Chifle is a side dish

Side dish

A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.-Common types:...

, snack food

Snack food

A snack is a portion of food oftentimes smaller than that of a regular meal, that is generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged and processed foods and items made from fresh ingredients at home....

, or finger food

Finger food

Finger food is food meant to be eaten directly using the hands, in contrast to food eaten with a knife and fork, chopsticks, or other utensils. In some cultures, food is almost always eaten with the hands; for example, Ethiopian cuisine is eaten by rolling various dishes up in injera bread. In the...

 of Peru and Ecuador, consisting of fried slices (chips or crisps) of green or ripe plantain

Plantain

Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...

. Chifle is not to be confused with banana chips

Banana chips

Banana chips are deep-fried and/or dried slices of bananas . They can be covered with sugar or honey and have a sweet taste, or they can be fried in oil and spices and have a salty and/or spicy taste. Variants of banana chips may be covered with chocolate instead...

.

In Peru

In Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 chifle is typical of the Piura Region

Piura Region

Piura is a coastal region in northwestern Peru. The region's capital is Piura and its largest port cities, Paita and Talara, are also among the most important in Peru...

. It consists of fried slices or strips of either ripe or green plantains seasoned with salt to taste. In the region of Piura, chifle is traditionally fried in wood-burning stoves with wood of the algorrobo blanco (a species of mesquite tree), which gives chifle a special aroma and taste. Depending on the type of plantain (ripe or green) the flavor can be sweet or savory. Sometimes it is served with cancha serrana (pan-roasted maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

) or shredded cecina (pork jerky

Jerky (food)

Jerky is lean meat that has been trimmed of fat, cut into strips, and then been dried to prevent spoilage. Normally, this drying includes the addition of salt, to prevent bacteria from developing on the meat before sufficient moisture has been removed. The word "jerky" is a bastardization of the...

).

At present, the Asociación de Productores de Chifles Piuranos (APROCHIP, English: Piura Chifle Producers Association) has initiated the process to declare chifle as a producto de bandera nacional (English: flagship product) of Peru. APROCHIP of Piura is an agglomeration of 14 local commercial chifle producers.

In Ecuador

The variety of plantain used in Ecuador for some culinary compositions is called "dominico", either in honor of the Orden de Predicadores or because the name was passed from Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...

 (the capital of the Dominican Republic) to the coast of Ecuador. Chifle is made with green domingo plantains. Chifle is often served along with mazamorra

Mazamorra

Mazamorra is a traditional maize-based Latin American food.-In Colombia:Mazamorra in Colombia is also known as Peto...

or as a side dish with caldo (soup), especially beef caldo. Chifle is often served with ceviche

Ceviche

Ceviche is a seafood dish popular in the coastal regions of the Americas, especially Central and South America. The dish is typically made from fresh raw fish marinated in citrus juices such as lemon or lime and spiced with chilli peppers. Additional seasonings such as onion, salt,...

 (a seafood dish), which is also always served with maize roasted in shortening

Shortening

Shortening is any fat that is solid at room temperature and used to make crumbly pastry. The reason it is called shortening is because it prevents cross-linkage between gluten molecules. Cross linking is what causes doughs to be sticky. Seeing as cake is not meant to be sticky, shortening is used...

.

Process

An incision is made in the peel the full length of the plantain, and the peel is removed by hand. The plantains are immediately placed in salt water. Then the plantain is cut into thin slices, either across (round slices, like chips), or lengthwise (strips). The plantain slices are cooked in hot oil until golden and crispy. Then they are seasoned with salt.

A more crispy variety of chifle is prepared and packaged in factories. This includes sweet, savory, and spicy varieties. The commercial production and export of chifle was a product of the fact that South American travelers were interested in the uses of plantains. Early 19th Century travelers on ships entering and leaving the port of Guayaquil were served chifle (instead of bread) with meals, including breakfast, and discovered its use as a snack food.

Etymology

According to Peruvian historians, the term "chifle" most likely comes from the Arabic "chofre", which in Medieval Spain was used to refer to the blade of the sword, lending the name to the snack food of fried plantains sliced into circles with the blade of a sword. Another view is that "chifle" means horn (or antler) and the term was used because of the resemblance between the two. A third view suggests that the term originates from the whistling sound made while eating the snack.

The word "chifle" is of unknown origin and does not appear in the dictionary of the Spanish language. In the rural social environment of the Ecuadorian coast, principly in the provinces of "Montubio" cultural origin, "chiflar" was a vulgar and coloquial term that means to "whistle" with the mouth in a notably sharp sound by pinching the bottom lip and pushing air out from the lungs, resulting in a strong sound (sometimes pleasant or unpleasant) to catch the listener's attention. In the Montubia ethnic culture of the coast of Ecuador, this sound was popularly used to call family or close kinsmen from long distances.

Similar preparations in other countries

Every tropical country where the plantain is in high consumption has its local version of this snack. It is known as chipilo in Bolivia; plataninas in Guatemala; pazhampori in South India; mariquitas (English: lady bugs) in Cuba; in Puerto Rico platanutres.