Coming from a coastal town in an area defined as “Tropical Desert Forest” my first visit to Constanza in my early teens came as a real shock.
Geographically and climate-wise you would have a hard time finding two places so different and still located on the same small island. To my 13 (or 12?, can’t remember) year-old self the “newness” of it all was as vivid as any experience I’ve had since of visiting other countries far removed from my own. Constanza is truly a marvel of geographical oddities. [Continue reading…]
Main ingredients: strawberry • yogurt
Before mango season is over I wanted to bring you this recipe.
Every Dominican has an opinion on which is the best mango cultivar: banilejos, puyitas, injertos, etc. Truth is if you have never tried a ripe mango in our country you have missed much in your life. I find mangoes imported into non-mango growing areas to be lacking in flavor and juiciness.
But even if you’re not lucky enough to live in an are where mangos are grown, this recipe is a lifesaver because you don’t need ripe mangoes!
Even though this is not a traditional Dominican salad, it’s inspired by a Dominican children’s favorite: eating green mango with salt, straight from the tree.
For this salad I have chosen to use mangos that are half-way between ripe and green, what we Dominicans call “acojolado“. This way the sweetness of the mango does not overpower the flavors of the other ingredients.
Can you think of any other salad that spells tropical summer like this? You really ought try it.
Taste this delicious salad based on a Dominican children's tradition of eating green mangos. This is a dish that can be served as a light meal.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of mango, cut into strips or cubes
- 6 cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
- 1 medium-size head of lettuce, shredded
For the dressing
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of brown sugar
- Pepper
- Salt
For the shrimps
- 1 doz of jumbo shrimps, peeled
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of chili powder (optional)
Instructions
For the shrimps
- Mix vinegar, oil, sugar and chili powder. Mix well.
- Add the shrimps and marinate an hour in the fridge.
- Heat a stovestop grill over high heat and grill the shrimps until it turns dark pink. If you wish you can cut the shrimps into small pieces, or serve whole.
For the salad
- Mix mango, lettuce and tomatoes. Arrange the shrimps on top.
- Prepare the dressing by mixing sugar, vinegar, oil and salt to taste.
- Accompany the salad with dressing.
2.0
http://www.dominicancooking.com/6008-mango-and-shrimps-salad.html Copyright DominicanCooking.com - Personal use only
Main ingredients: mango • shrimps • tomato
Cooking with rum is not unfamiliar to Dominicans, totally the opposite actually. Some of the dishes that may be cooked with rum are rabo encendido and chivo liniero (each family has its own recipe and lore about these dishes).
With a wide variety of world-class rum available at reasonable prices here, it is no surprise that we have found several ways of incorporating it into our cuisine.
Quail eggs are a lot more common than quail meat in the DR, but it’s not rare to find it in local supermarkets, even if we treat it as something to serve for special occasions. When I found it in our “neighborhood” supermarket I decided to treat my husband to a dish that includes one of his favorite things about our country: rum.
Adding apples was my idea. Rum-based sauce has a certain degree of bitterness that I dislike, and the apples tame that. I’m not sure what my husband liked more, the rum or the apples. Try it yourself and let me know what you think.
I don’t recommend this dish for children for the obvious reason that children should stay away from alcohol, but also because quails have many very small bones that can be a choking hazard for kids. Consider this a special “grown-ups” dish.
Quail with rum and apples
This is a dish inspired by the custom of adding rum to some dishes in the Dominican Republic.
Ingredients
- 12 quails
- 3 tablespoons of oil
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 1/3 cup of rum
- 12 spring onion bulbs, peeled
- 3 sprigs of curly parsley, chopped finely
- 2 fuji apples cut into thin wedges
- Juice of 1 lime
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Rub the quails with the lime juice.
- Stuff the quails with the spring onions bulbs (save the leaves for another dish).
- Season the quails with a tablespoon of salt, a teaspoon of pepper and the parsley. Let it rest in the fridge for two hours.
- Heat the oil in a heavy-bottom pot. Add the sugar and let it heat until it browns.
- Add the quails (careful with splatters!), stir until they are golden brown all over.
- Add half a cup of water and cook over medium heat until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Turn the quails and add another half cup of water.
- Repeat until the quails are tender.
- Add the rum and apple and cook over low heat until the apples are somewhat soft but whole and you still have about 3/4 cup of sauce left.
- Serve with oven-fried potatoes.
Important Notes
Not all varieties of apples are good for cooking: Fuji is one of my favorites for this purpose.
2.0
http://www.dominicancooking.com/3512-quail-with-rum-and-apples.html Copyright DominicanCooking.com - Personal use only
Main ingredients: apple • quail • rum
Immigrants from the Middle Eastern region, mainly from Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt came to the Dominican Republic and other Latin American countries in the late 19th and early 20th century. [Continue reading…]
Main ingredients: bulgur • tomatoes
We once took a poll amongst our readers called “Mondongo: Yucky or Yummy?”, which sparked in me some reflection. My money was on a landslide victory for the Yuckies. I admit it, I voted more than once, in order to better register my enormous dislike. The Yuckies lost. By a lot. [Continue reading…]
Main ingredients: beef • carrot • pork • potatoes • tripe
I have a confession to make: I’m terribly out of tune with the seasons and other natural cycles.
It’s actually a bit embarrassing. I used to show up at my corner fruit vendor when I lived in Santo Domingo and ask for mangos when it wasn’t mango season, or avocados when the trees were still in blossom. I just can’t remember these things.
[Continue reading…]
Main ingredients: auyama • bread • cheese • West Indies pumpkin
I am the grandchild of farmers, and so is my husband. If you can count on anything it is on farmers being sensible people. They are rarely too picky about their food, after all they know full well that pork does not come cut into slices or vacuum-packed, and that chicken is not made of thighs and breasts. Every part of the animal is of some use; nothing is wasted.
Generations later, when our child has only stepped on a farm on visits, things have changed in our family.
[Continue reading…]
Main ingredients: chicken
I’ve mentioned this many, many times: For such a small country this one has so many regional variations in its cuisine that it’s entirely possible to reach adulthood without trying something that is a staple on the other side of the country.
Meet exhibit one: Aunt Clara. [Continue reading…]
Main ingredients: corn
Some of the herbs that give Dominican food its distinctive flavours will be more familiar than others to readers from outside the country. In some cases, like oregano and lemongrass, a familiar herb will be used in a different way.
Here’s our introduction to herbs used in Dominican cooking. [Continue reading…]
Just as we do at home, we aim to keep the food in our blog balanced. This seems intentional, and to a certain point it is, but I’ve also noticed that over time I’ve unconsciously been avoiding repeating too many recipes of the same category.
After posting a few rice, meat and other type of recipes I return to two of my favorites: stews and legumes.
[Continue reading…]
Main ingredients: auyama • lentils • potatoes • West Indies pumpkin
Aunt Clara's Kitchen is a collection of traditional Dominican recipes, recipes inspired by Dominican flavors, as well as the chronicles of the Aunties' adventures in the kitchen and outside.
