My name is Layla Pujol, my family and friends call me Laylita. I was born in Vilcabamba, Ecuador and currently live in Luxembourg. I spent several years in the US, both in Austin and in Seattle, and our family recently moved to Europe. My recipes are inspired mainly by traditional Ecuadorian dishes that I grew up eating in Ecuador. However, my love of food – and therefore the recipes posted here – go beyond Ecuador and include anything from Latin America, my mom’s spicy New Mexican cooking, my grandmother’s homemade Southwestern dishes and Texas style BBQ, my husband’s (and his family’s) delicious French food, new dishes introduced by my amazing group of international friends, and of course the great variety of seafood, vegetables and fruits available in the Pacific Northwest.
I am currently working on my first cookbook, which will focus on delicious Ecuadorian recipes (adapted to my style, of course!).
The longer version of my story
My approach to cooking and general instructions for using this site
Additional contact information
Photo and content use
Recipe development, product reviews, disclosure, and advertising
Privacy policy
If you have any questions or comments you can leave them in the comment section, or you can email me directly layla at laylita dot com
Hello Dear….I love your site and recipes of our beautiful Ecuador. This gets me so happy to see how you are spreading the culinary beauty of our delicious foods. I was excited to hear you are publishing a cooking book. Is it available to buy? I love to buy a few for me and the ladies in my family. I tell you that after reading how to properly make seco de pollo, It made sense why mine was not as yummy as my grandmothers, I discovered I was making a few mistakes ;) Now my husbands loves it and I even got compliments from my mom…which is a rare..lol Please let me know about your book. Thank you and best success, from another Ecuadorian in Charlotte, NC :)
Hi Laylita I have been following you for a few years and enjoy preparing and sometimes surprising my husband of 47 years with recipes from South America. He is from Peru. His birthday is tomorrow, July 8. He shares his birthday with our daughter Elida Catalina. The other day he was talking to me about a cake his great grandmother, Catalina made with whole lemons. He’s never mentioned this in the 50 years I have known him, at least I don’t remember hearing about it. When we’ve been in Peru, I have never seen such a cake.
His great grandmother spoke Quechua as well as Spanish. She helped raise him as his mother, Catalina’s granddaughter was ill for a few years and she came to help the family. Have you heard about such a lemon cake? I know that often Italian recipes got mixed in. I would love your input if you have or know of such a recipe. It would be nice to give him a surprise. Thanks for you site. I love it and share it often on Facebook and Pinterest.
Hi Sandy – I haven’t heard of this particular lemon cake with whole lemons (I know many bakeries usually make a basic white/vanilla cake with lemon zest, but the one you mention sounds different), maybe someone reading here will help us find out more about it.
My Chilean friend Pilar has a lemon pisco sour cake on her blog En Mi Cocina Hoy.
Other South American food blogs you could check that might have something similar to what you are looking for or know more about this cake, include Peru Delights, Provecho Peru, and Confieso que Cocino (spanish only).
Thanks I will check. I tried Provecho Peru and wasn’t able to get to their website. I will also check with the others. I think it might be from Italy. I know he talks about Italian neighbors. Thanks for checking too.
Hello Layla, I also love to cook my daughter is married to Ecuadorian man ,love your recipes will have to try them show him the old man can really cook
Hello,
First of all I’m happy to see you have on EMELEC!
I lived on the coast in Salinas for 5 years and I’m thrilled to get your recipes. Some are altered slightly from the coast but I can remember how I like them by adjusting.
Thank you for making them available.
I miss the country and my many friends but now I can at least get the taste.
Any cuy recipes?
Hi Laylita,
I will try your Shrimp Rice recipe this week. It looks good.
I would like to receive your Chaulafan recipe via email or if you can present it again via your website.
I must have misplaced it in my files.
Thanking you,I remain,
Rodney E. Croes
Aruba
Hi Rodney – Thank you! You can find the chaulafan recipe here: https://www.laylita.com/recipes/chaulafan-de-pollo-chicken-fried-rice/
Hi, Laylita
I’m from de capital of Ecuador. I live in USA. I’m so glad I found your site…Please, let me know when you are going to have your book ready!!..Beautiful family..Saludos,Cecilia
I’m so glad that I found your website. I’ve prepared some of your dishes in the past. This is definitely my go-to website for Ecuadorian recipes. Thank you for actively maintaining and continuing to share your wonderful recipes!
I made seco de pollo tonight. OMG it was so good. So good in fact that my wife went back for seconds! I was wondering if I could freeze the leftovers. Thoughts?
Hi Dana – Yes, the leftovers can be frozen. Glad to hear that you enjoyed the seco de pollo!
Hola Laylita,
Intenté enviarte un email pero no fue posible. QuerÃa en primer lugar felicitarte por el hermoso website que tienes. Siempre estoy chequeando tus recetas. Me encantan.
En segundo lugar querÃa comentarte que hice referencia a tu sitio web en mi blog. Por favor cuéntame si estas de acuerdo. Puedes leer aquà mi más recuente blog.
Referencia a tu website en:
http://www.gabyfriedman.com/blog/the-mountains-and-the-sea
Saludos,
Gaby
Hola Gaby,
Gracias por tu mensaje y por hacerle referencia a mi sitio en tu blog :)
Que lindas tus fotos y todo lo que haces!
Disculpas por lo del email, se me lleno el inbox mientras viajaba y al intentar arreglarlo termine borrando (accidentalmente) casi todos los emails del 2015.
Saludos!
Hi Laylita. I am Canadian and my husband is Ecuadorian. Thank you so much for posting these delicious recipes. They are amazing and I am having fun trying them. My husband and kids are so happy too!