Bolivian Silpancho – Meat, Eggs, Rice, Potatoes and Salad in One Plate

What is Silpancho?

When I first visited Bolivia with my husband, I fell in love with the people, culture, music and especially the food. Bolivian Food is a gastronomical awakening of the tastes. Silpancho was by far one of my favorite meals. Silpancho is a typical traditional Bolivian meal. It seems the origins of this delicious meal are from the Cochabamba region. The word Silpancho comes from the Quechua language (sillp’anchu) and it means thin & pounded meat. The plate usually consists of a thin & pounded steak, rice, potatoes, eggs and a tomato salad. Even though, these are all common ingredients, the combinations of flavors in one plate is just perfect and makes for a special dish!

Jump to Recipe

Some links in my posts may be affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you purchase items by clicking on these links. I will always disclose when a product in a post has been gifted by a company as well as when a post or product is sponsored.

I try to cook this dish occasionally because I really like the combination of flavors, despite having to fry some of the foods. My kids love it too!! I cut the meat in pieces for them and they love the mix of meat, potatoes, rice and salad. They aren’t too crazy about the egg on top:).

I’ve modified the version I cook at home a little bit because of the kids. I remember the tomato salad that topped the meat in Bolivia had some locoto in it, giving it a perfect level of spiciness. I prepare spicy llajua on the side (see recipe for llajua by clicking on the link) and I don’t add locoto to the tomato salad. That way the kids’ plates are not spicy and my husband & I can add llajua on top to add spice to the dish.

How to Pick the Meat for Silpancho?

When picking the meat for this dish, try to choose an already thin beef slice, usually a top sirloin. The meat department at my grocery store would do this on demand. Even after buying a thin cut of the meat, you should pound it with a meat mallet to thin it even more and make it even. If you ever cook schnitzel or milanesa, you might already be familiar with this method.

Recipe Variations of Silpancho

I’ve come across several variations of this dish. For example, a family friend uses ground beef to create the fried meat steak. She makes it like a meatball then spreads it out and fries it. Another variation I’ve come across was the toppings for the salad. Mostly the toppings for the salad are tomatoes, onions, green pepper and locoto but I’ve tried it in few restaurants with carrots and beets mixed in the salad as well. I need to do some more reading and figure out if the variations are regional or just chef’s preferences.

My Variations of the Silpancho Recipe

I for example add some parsley on the finished plate just as decoration. Also, the meat in Bolivia is fried in vegetable oil but in my house I use olive oil. That’s where my Mediterranean upbringing comes in, I barely ever use anything other than olive oil to cook. And I do understand it’s not the best frying oil. So feel free to customize to your liking certain details of my recipe.

My Bolivian Silpancho Recipe

If you are new to my blog, I wanted to share than I am from Albania and my husband from Bolivia. I share Albanian and Bolivian recipes in my blog so we could share with our kids a little bit from the countries where we came from. However, as is the case specifically with this Silpancho recipe, I have to make several adjustments since I can’t find the same exact ingredients as in Bolivia. So I usually say my recipes are inspired by the Bolivian version that my husband’s family shares with me.

I hope you enjoy it:)

Other Traditional Bolivian Recipes:

• Chuflay Boliviano
• Sopa de Mani (Bolivian Peanut Soup)
• Bolivian Salsa – Llajua