[Aunt Clara]

Ingredients of Dominican cooking

Dominican cuisine relies mostly on fresh ingredients. Therefore, it is a good idea to plan your menus before you begin, as some items will be easy to find, while others are seasonal. Some ingredients are not indispensable. To make it easy for you, we have indicated those that may be omitted, but we recommend using as many of the listed ingredients as possible. After all, you want to remain true to the distinctive taste of our cuisine! If you want us to include other words post your request in our forum.


Aguacate Avocado, palta in other Latin countries.
Asopao A thick soup made with rice and seafood or meat.
Arroz Rice.
Auyama Gem squash, calabaza in other Latin countries.
Bacalao Codfish. Abadejos in some Latin American countries.
Bandera Dominicana Typical Dominican lunch of rice, beans and meat.
Batata Sweet potato, known as camote and boniato.
Bija Anato, Annato o Achiote. Red seeds used to color foods.
Casabe Cassava bread, thick tortilla made with dried cassava (see yuca).
Chicharron Fried pork rind. Pork cracklings
China Orange.
Chivo Goat.
Cilantro Coriander, known as coriandro, and culantro in other countries.
Cocido Meaty stew.
Cocoa Chocolate powder in the Dominican Rep.
Concón The rice that sticks at the bottom of the pan.
Fría Literally ‘cold’. A very cold beer.
Garbanzos Chick peas
Guandules Pigeon peas – somewhere between petit pois and green lentils.
Guanábana Soursop.
Guineo Banana.
Guayaba Guava. Arasa in other Latin American countries.
Habas Faba beans
Habichuelas negras Black beans
Habichuelas blancas White beans
Habichuelas rojas Red kidney beans
Habichuelas pintas Pinto beans
Lambí Conch.
Lechoza Pawpaw - known as papaya in most other places.
Lentejas Lentils
Limoncillo Spanish lemon, known as quenepa in other Latin countries.
Locrio A combination of rice, meat (or seafood) and vegetables.
Longaniza Spicy pork sausage.
Mangú Mashed plantains, yucca, yautía.
Maní Peanuts. Also known as cacahuate and cacahuete.
Mariscos Seafood
Mondongo Tripe. Also known as panza, tripas and menudos. Callos in Spain.
Moro Dish made with rice and beans or pigeon peas.
Nuez moscada Nutmeg.
Papa potato.
Picadera buffet, appetizers.
Picante Spicy hot.
Pica pollo Breaded fried chicken.
Pincho Brochette/kebab.
Platano plantain - known as plátano verde in Spain.
Presidente Leading brand of beer sold in the DR.
Puerco en puya Spit roast pork.
Rabo Encendido Spicy Oxtail soup – literally ‘tail on fire’.
Remolacha Beet.
Rés Guisada Beef stew.
Salsa Sauce, also name of popular Latin American dance music.
Salsa de tomate Tomato paste in the Dominican Rep.
Salsa inglesa Worcester Sauce
Sancocho Stew – Dominican delicacy made with up to seven types of meat.
Tayota Christophines, chayote
Vainitas Green beans
Yuca Cassava, root of the yucca plant, also known as mandioca.

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This is very important to us, and we are sure that all our faithful readers will help us. We know that our site is plagued by Spanish or Dominican words that might be understood by a majority but not all of our readers. We are thinking that we should compile a glossary for the "newbies". We will then use this thread as a reference when somebody needs help.

Could you pls. list all the Spanish words, terms and names that we should add to the list? Being that we Aunts know what they mean it could be easy for us to overlook some of them. You are the users, you know better than us what's needed.

Thanks a lot for your help.

[gdomingues]

The words I have a trouble with are the spices, fish, and vegetable names in spanish.

[vandygirl03]

I remember one time, I had a recipe and NONE of the words were translated in my dictionary. Sometimes, though, the words are translated, but it still doesn't mean anything to me, for example, GANDULES, so they're pigeon peas, but what are those? We don't eat them in the U.S. so translating without describing doesn't always help. Other things like sofrito are problematic because everyone says something different about what's in it...

[Damaris]

Although I was born in DR, I was 1 years old when my parents moved to the US. I love dominican foods and so does my family. The recipies however, are difficult to make out when it comes to the ingredients. For Example: What does "Salsa Inglesa" mean? Is that just tomatoe paste? What is "Nuez -Moscada? I think it'll be of excellent help if the ingredients can be described. Love your sight.

[Aunt Ilana]

Salsa Inglesa is "Worcester Sauce", a tasty sauce made of spices and anchovies traditionally added to soups. Also known by its brand name, "Lea and Perrins" Sauce.

Nuez moscada is nutmeg.

Aunt Ilana

PS "Worcester" is pronounced "woosta"!

[Damaris]

Aunt Ilana -
Thank you for clarifying the ingridients for the "salsa inglesa" and the "nuez - moscada" I can now make sense of the ingridients in the recipie.

[Aunt Ilana]

This question came to me from Stan, a poster on DR1 - what exactly is bija? Is it a spice or a food colouring? Is there an English word for it?

Aunt Ilana