Do you know what a sancocho is? If so, I know what you’re thinking: “if it’s vegan, then it isn’t sancocho”. After all the recipe in our blog is called a “seven meat-stew”. You can hardly get any more carnivorous than that, short of chasing and killing your own prey. I love sancocho, but I’m
We all have talents. Big talents, and minor ones. One of my minor talents is the ability to remember what foods my friends and relatives don’t like or are allergic to, once they have been my guests. As minor talents go, this comes in pretty handy if you don’t want to end your dinners with
For today I had a rich dish that included a cup of butter in its preparation. There was a change of plans. The night I was supposed to go in the kitchen to make this dish I woke up at 3AM with a dull pain in my stomach. Don’t worry, nothing more serious than an
It’s the day after Christmas Eve. The house looks like a battlefield, it’s a mess everywhere. People in various states of undress pass us by scratching assorted body parts. Lots of yawning. We’re still dizzy from a night of happiness, laughter, lots of food and the occasional argument over something that will be forgotten the next morning. And
I love soups. There is something comforting, soothing, heart-warming in a bowl of warm soup. Frankly, few foods have this effect on me. When I am sad, down, when life seems to be going in the wrong direction, I drown my sorrows in a bowl of soup. When I don’t feel well, when my body resents
There are days when getting out of bed does not seem like the best use of our time. Wednesday was one of such days. We inaugurated the day with a raging tropical rain and strong winds. It didn’t take long until one of the shades in our terrace was ripped off its tracks. Things could only get
Quick, summer is coming soon! It’s barely May and round here the heat gives us little respite these days. Luckily it has been raining heavily for the last two days, which brings the heat and humidity down a few notches to more bearable levels. Cool enough to eat soup without melting into a puddle of sweat, and
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. For those innocently unaware,
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
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
Ginger is used in Dominican cooking in desserts and the ever-welcome ginger tea. It is not a traditional part of our savory cuisine. I’ve set out to change that. OK, that would be a bit too ambitious. But in the meantime let me share with you the many ways in which we use ginger at
I was introduced to cepa de apio for the very first time a few years back. I had been looking out for it since I first heard of its existence, when a friend told me it was an extremely rich source of calcium as well as one of the better-tasting tubers, or as Dominicans call them, viveres. I
Having moved from a large city (Santo Domingo) a few years back, one of the things that I like the most about PuntaCana is the sense of old-time community. It helps that none of us is from here, we all have to build support networks and lean on friends for help once in a while.
It’s fair to say that I have learned as much from my readers’ comments and emails throughout these years than I may have taught them. And I have discovered a treasure trove of new dishes in our cuisine that I did not know existed prior to my starting to write about Dominican cooking. A million
No wonder Columbus risked life and limb in a dangerous adventure in his pursuit of spices. Our lives would be duller without them, and for enthusiastic food-lovers nothing warms the cockles of our heart like a well-spiced dish. In the chapter The Great Chilli Migrations of her book Spices Manisha Gambhir tells us the story of how chili left
‘Dominicans don’t like spicy food’. I heard that yet again last night from someone who certainly enjoys spicy-hot food, and I agree with her. Unlike our Mexican cousins or our neighbors to the west, Dominicans don’t handle spicy-hot food very well; this is in part a matter of taste, but also due to misconceptions regarding
Let’s get our rice fix in a much lighter way: with a delicious asopao de camarones (shrimp and rice pottage). We’re not quite half-way through 2004 yet, but now is as good a time as any to sit back and reflect on whether the good intentions expressed at the beginning of the year have turned into
You know what you’re making for supper. You stopped at the grocery store on your way home from work and picked up the necessary ingredients. You’ve diced your onion, your oil is a-heating. OK. Recipe calls for one sopita (a chicken broth cube). One sopita, one sopita… where in Julia Child’s name is the sopita???
I spent the summer in Europe where, like north America, the media is currently obsessed with childhood obesity and the increase in the girth of the population as a whole. The Dominican press has also been focusing on this issue, acknowledging that in this particular society we have the dubious honour of exhibiting both sides
As we all know, a new age of airport security is upon us, as we adjust to the various new stringent measures in place: profiling, nosy questions, long line-ups, and the meat & veggie frisks. The meat & veggie frisks, you ask? Yes, it’s true! 600 kilos of meat are confiscated weekly at DR airports,
Food is not just nourishment. There’s also an emotional relationship between people and food. And the food we grew up with, no matter how unusual to the rest of the world, always comforts us and brings us memories of happy times long gone. I grew up with this dish. Like we have mentioned before, most
If I had to define this soup in one word that word would be “yum!”. This light, but rich and creamy soup is perfect as starters to a big meal, or as a light dinner or lunch. It is pretty filling, so a little bit of bread and you will have a dinner that is
It has sometimes struck me that for a country with a very hot and humid climate, there is very little about Dominican food that is light and refreshing. There are a couple of light salad dishes on the daily Dominican menu, but for most people the preferred salad is the more stodgy Ensalada Rusa, which especially
Sancocho in the Dominican Republic is synonymous with party. Dominicans are spontaneous and happy people who do not need much of an excuse to party. Where there are two or more Dominicans, a party may break out at any moment; some occasions, however, call for more lavish and elaborate celebrations. A baptism is an occasion
Aunt Clara's Kitchen is a collection of traditional Dominican and Dominican-inspired recipes, home ideas, crafts, and the chronicles of Aunt Clara and Aunt Ilana's adventures.
