A creamy soup of ñame and shredded costeño cheese loosened with coconut milk, built on a sofrito of spring onion, garlic and suero. The emblematic soup of the Montes de María region.
Mote de queso is the emblematic soup of the Montes de María subregion, covering Sucre, Córdoba and the south of Bolívar. It is built on ñame, a yam of the Caribbean coast, and costeño cheese, a salty pressed curd. The cheese is shredded into the cooked yam so it melts into the broth, and a sofrito of spring onion, garlic and suero costeño carries the seasoning. The dish is documented as one of the signature bowls of the Costa Atlántica.
Thick, creamy and faintly tangy from the costeño cheese and suero, with soft chunks of yam holding their shape, a whisper of coconut richness behind. Poured over white rice, it is savoury, salty and deeply restorative.
The ñame is boiled until completely soft, then partly mashed so the soup thickens with its starch while some chunks remain. The costeño cheese is grated directly into the hot yam so it melts rather than staying stringy. A separate sofrito of spring onion, garlic and suero costeño is cooked until fragrant and stirred in at the end, so the suero's tang survives the heat.
Variations
Some cooks add coconut cream for a richer bowl. A Córdoba version finishes with a poached egg per bowl.
On the Palate
Where Mote de Queso sits in the Colombian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
6 steps · 20 min
- 18 min
Peel and cube 800g ñame; boil in salted water for 25 minutes until completely soft.
Watch outBoil the ñame until it's completely soft — this is what lets you mash part of it to thicken the soup; undercooked yam stays chalky and won't body it up.
- 24 min
Drain, reserving 400ml of the cooking water; partly mash the yam, leaving some chunks.
- 35 min
In oil, sauté 3 chopped spring onions, 1 diced onion and 3 cloves minced garlic for 4 minutes.
- 44 min
Add 1 grated tomato, 1 tsp cumin and 2 tbsp suero costeño; cook 3 minutes.
- 59 min
Pour the sofrito into the yam with 200ml coconut milk and enough of the reserved cooking water to reach a soup consistency; simmer 8 minutes.
- 64 min
Off the heat, stir in 200g grated costeño cheese until it melts; serve over white rice.
Watch outStir in the grated cheese off the heat so it just melts in — add it over high heat and it turns stringy and rubbery instead of creamy.
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