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
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
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
There is an enormous variety of pumpkins, but in the Dominican Republic the best known is the auyama (West Indian pumpkin). A vegetable that has many uses in our cuisine: from desserts to rice dishes, from food coloring to filler in stews. This is a less-common presentation, but no less delicious. Auyama is recommended as
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.
We were guests in the home of Dominican friends. Three weeks passed without incident, until one day Mr. Rivera took ill and went to the hospital with who-knew-what stomach ailment. His wife stayed by his side morning and night, and I was thrust in the role of “Ama de Casa”. I decided right away that
Speaking of locrio de Pollo (Dominican rice and chicken), let me tell you a story… There are some cooking disasters that nobody but us knows, secrets that we keep as if they were bedroom secrets. Others, well, those others nobody seems to forget. My most infamous ones you ask? They seem to all involve rice.
It’s been over three months, and I am back in the DR at last. Like so many other returning Dominicans and Dominicans-by-adoption the first thing I did was treat myself to a ‘fria’ from the first petrol station on the road from the airport to Santo Domingo. My sensible side tried to remind me that
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,
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
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.
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