When I was offered an opportunity to review the book “Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers” by Terry Hope Romero I was intrigued. Knowing latino cuisine as I do, the thought of a vegan adaptation of this heavily pork laden foodway boggled my mind. You can see from the traditional Colombian recipes that I have blogged about on this site, meat often figures heavily in our cuisine.

It should not have boggled my mind but it did. One has to banish the thought of chicharrones from one’s mind to be able to grasp vegan latino food and that seemed like too dear a price to pay! (winks)

When I got the book and browsed the recipes I had a huge head-bonking “I get it” moment.. of course! Latino food is at its VERY best when you eat the freshest ingredients and that doesnt really encompass chicharrones but avocados, cilantro, tomatoes, corn, platanos (plantains), yucas (casava), lime, and so much more.

When you remove the pork and replace it with olive oil you still have the beautiful flavors of latino foods. I would not recommend the margarines that the author does but she is trying to recapture some of the magic of butter that veganism bans. Any vegetable fat that is solid or semi-solid at room temperature is in some way modified (hydrogenated) and that is not good for your body. The best solution here is coconut butter – organic only and produced by a company that you trust and KNOW isnt using benzenes to purify their product.

The book consists of two parts and within those two parts a broad array of basic knowledge about vegan cooking and the adapted recipes:

Part One:

• The Vegan Latin Pantry
• Kitchen Tools (or How do I slice a mango)

Part Two:

• A Few Essential Latino Vegan Recipes
• Salsas and Condiementos
• Bocadillos, Snacks, and Appetizers
• Ensaladas
• Beans and Rice, Los Dos Amigos
• Vegan Asado: Tofu, Tempeh, and Seitan
• Complete Your Plate: Vegetables, Plantains, and Grains
• One Pot Stews, Cassaroles, and Cazuelas
• Super Fantastico Latin Soups!
• For the Love of Corn: Arepas, Pupusas, Tortillas, and More
• You, Too, Can Tamale
• Empanadas!
• Drinks
• Desserts and Sweets

For this review I intentionally chose a recipe that uses a common vegetarian/vegan ingredient that is relatively foreign to latino cuisine – tempeh – so that I can see if the author had been successful at making the translation. I prefer authenticity and loathe fake meat concoctions (tofurky?). I like tofu for its tofu-ness and would never eat it hoping to feel like I am eating meat.

What is tempeh? Trust me the following description might sound a bit – umm – revolting and it kept me from trying it for a long time but also trust me that tempeh is in fact really quite delicious!

“Tempeh, or tempe in Indonesian, is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. Tempeh is unique among major traditional soy-foods in that it is the only one that did not originate in China or Japan. It originated in today’s Indonesia, and is especially popular on the island of Java, where it is a staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but tempeh is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempeh’s fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins. It has a firm texture and strong flavor. Because of its nutritional value, tempeh is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue.” Source

I bought the organic three grain tempeh for this recipe (in addition to whole soybeans – brown rice, barley and millet). I can highly recommend this product – quite delicious!

Just a quick side note: The notion of “stuffing” an arepa is most popular in Venezuela versus Colombia. In Colombia, generally, arepas are not stuffed but eaten simply with butter and salt. I am sure now a days the propensity to “stuff” them is also spreading into Colombia (its not immune to change!). I qualify the term “stuff” here because the arepa isnt really suited for stuffing because it falls apart. Its not a pita bread. You cant really form a hinge by cutting half way through it and then stuffing it. Its more like you cut the arepa in half and then make a sandwich sort of thing.

The Recipes

For today’s review I worked from the following recipes (with some modifications based on availability of ingredients):

• Pan-Fried Tempeh with Sofrito (page 112)
• Basic Onion-Pepper Sofrito (page 32)
• Black Bean – Corn Salsa Salad (page 72)

Feedback: I can tell you ahead of time, before we go through all the recipes, that my non-vegan chicharron-eating family (3, 6, 13, adults) reveled in the deliciousness of this tempeh dish. I was fully ready for the kids to reject this new food (and I didnt tell them how it is made, they just need to trust me that its edible) but they LOVED it.

The tempeh has a unique nutty flavor (a stretch for our family too, we have extreme nut allergies here) and had a great mouth feel. My 13 yo said it tasted sorta like meat (likely with respect to the texture). They also gobbled down the corn-black bean salsa.

It was a definite hit here! I hope you give it a try and see for yourself. You do not need to be vegan or vegetarian to love these foods, they are a way to expand your own personal food habits and expose you to new flavors!

Pan-Fried Tempeh with Sofrito (page 112)

Ingredients:

• 1 (8-oz) cake of tempeh
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• vegetable oil, for pan-frying
• 1/2 cup Basic Onion-Pepper Sofrito (pg 32)
• 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and minced
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 cup white wine, vegetable broth, or beer
• olive oil for pan-frying

Directions:

Slice the tempeh cake in half lengthwise, slice into thirds (I cubed it). You now need to steam it in a steamer basket, a covered saucepan with 1 cup water or in a microwave (covered dish, 1/2 cup water, nuke about 5 minutes). Drain all the water and then sprinkle with the soy sauce (I also sprinkled with lemon juice). Set aside.

Make your sofrito (see below).

Pan fry your tempeh on medium high in small amount of oil until golden on all sides.

To the hot pan add the following: sofrito, tomatoes, wine vinegar, cilantro, cumin; fry all until tomatoes are soft – 6-8 mins. Add in the tempeh and stir to coat and warm, ~ 5 mins. Pour the wine over this until almost absorbed, some sauce remaining. Serve in arepas, as shown.

Note on my modifications: We do not drink so we have no wine on hand, didnt add that. I also didnt add vinegar but added a splash of lemon juice.

Tempeh before preparation.

Steamed tempeh on to toast.

Golden tempeh

Basic Onion-Pepper Sofrito (page 32) (note – I made a few key changes to this recipe for this review)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 6 cloves of garlic, chopped coarsely
• 2 pounds green bell peppers, seeded, chopped finely
• 2 pounds yellow onions, diced
• generous pinch of salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Saute peppers, garlic, onions, salt and ground pepper in a heavy pan on medium heat for about 10 mins. Lower heat and continue to cook for some 20 – 30 mins until all is soft and reduced to a 1/3 original volume.

Use immediately or cool and store in the refrigerator as a condiment.

Note on my modifications: In Colombian cuisine, we call the analogue to this “Hogao” and it doesnt include peppers or black pepper and would NEVER be made without cumin or cilantro. I had no peppers on hand so I made more of a traditional hogao versus this version. This means I also added cumin and tomatoes. Green onions are also especially good in this.

Arepas

Ingredients:

• 1 C “La Venezolana” or “ArepaHarina” precocida masa harina (extremely fine precooked corn meal – you simply can not use any substitutes here, find this ingredient)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 C boiling hot water

Directions:

Mix arepaharina with salt and hot water, mix well. Set aside for 5 – 10 mins. Shape into small balls (larger than a golf ball, smaller than a baseball) and then flatten into pucks (smooth edges).

Toast in a hot pan until brown on sides, put into 350 F oven until ready to serve. Poke holes on top and slather with butter and sprinkle with salt or prepare as per desired recipe.

Black Bean – Corn Salsa (page 72) (I am leaving out the salad part as I only made the salsa portion)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups roasted fresh corn
• 1 (14 oz) can organic black beans (2 cups cooked black beans)

Directions:

Drain the can of beans, add the roasted corn.

Note on my modifications: I added 1 tablespoon chopped vidalia onion (raw), 2 plum tomatoes (chopped), salt, good sprinkle of cumin, 1 teaspoon minced garlic.

Bring all of this together for a delicious meal! In a traditional latino home, this would not be served without rice (I recommend organic brown rice) but we are dealing with a nasty heat wave here in the Northeast (104.7 in the shade the other day, 109 with heat index) so cooking and eating rice was the LAST thing we wanted or needed. As it was, making these arepas and hot hogao and roasting corn – it all made my kitchen hot and I was POURING with sweat – not a happy picture, that.

There are MANY more very delicious recipes in this cookbook. I recommend it for all – vegan or not. I also especially recommend it to the Latino/a who is considering or is a vegan and would like a taste of home with not so much pork in it!

Product Details:

• Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books; 1 edition (April 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738212733
• ISBN-13: 978-0738212739

Goya and other latino food purveyors have “latino” style flavorings and spice useful to quickly add a certain flavor to foods that some interpret as “latino”.

(Note that I never think of myself or refer to myself as “hispanic”. The term “hispanic” was a broad class term coined by the infinitely odious Richard Nixon because he could not tell us latinos apart from one another.)

One such product is “Sazon” (with various permutations or variations). If you are latino/a you likely know this well, if you are new to this cuisine and have been experimenting with latino recipes, you will very likely come across recipes asking for it.

Do yourself and your family a great favor and either throw away any Sazon you have on hand or simply never buy it in the first place.

Sazon is MSG with annatto. MSG is not a food, its not a spice, it is a neurotoxin, especially when its used as directed in the case of Sazon.

I have written about MSG and how fantastically bad it is for you, from the scientific perspective in this post: Monosodium Glutamate: Bad for your brain, your figure, and your health.

Just step away from the Sazon.

You might ask then, how do I get that rich saffron yellow color without the sazon?!

You could invest in saffron.

I don’t, I just do not have that sort of food budget.

You could do what most latina grandmas and their mamas and abuelas have done BEFORE Goya – not be lazy and make a sofrito or hogao (as we Colombians call it, recipe at end of this post).

If you do not want to go to the trouble of making an hogao (it will add enormous flavor to your food, natural non-toxic flavor) then you can choose to use the coloring agent in Sazon that is not MSG -> ground annatto seeds.

Annatto seeds are seeds from the Achiote tree, grown in tropical Central and South America.

The Wiki says:

It is an important ingredient of cochinita pibil, the spicy pork dish popular in Mexico. It is also a key ingredient in the drink tascalate from Chiapas, Mexico.

Annatto is the red coloring you find on the rind of muenster cheese and cheddar cheese!

You can grind the seeds (shown here) and use pinches of it in recipes that call for Sazon or you can soak the seeds in water a bit to release the powdery coating on the seeds which is what colors things.

Annatto has been indicated in adverse reactions for some people so go easy on using it in the beginning. In all cases, never use a whole LOT of this or any spice, be moderate and find just the right amount that you need, no more.

Let me know if you make the switch!

Always be vigilant about MSG in your food. Its quite literally everywhere.

Hogao:

• 5 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 2 bunches of green onions, finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of ground cominos
• Pinch of ground annatto seeds
• 1/2 cup of packed, chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• salt to taste

Directions:

Saute the listed “hogao” ingredients in the olive oil until wilted, set aside.

Mix the harina and salt and then add the boiling water. Mix until incorporated and set aside for 15 minutes.

When I went to see Sandor Ellix Katz speak about Wild Fermentation (Sandor Ellix Katz and the Wild among us) I heard him mention that he was getting into wild fermented meats.

This reminded me of my childhood when we would make Colombian fermented sausages called salchichas or chorizos. I wrote to Sandor about this recipe, I think he will enjoy it as he is quite an intrepid culinary explorer! Besides, these sausages are just amazing!

At first, the idea of fermented meat might seem revolting or alien to Americans – we are constantly bombarded by Big Ag, USDA, and FDA message about cooking meat until charred (but not to on the other FDA hand because char = carcinogens).

We hear about the woman, in the New York Times, who was poisoned and then paralyzed by the E coli in her cheap and utterly crap hamburgers from a big box store (E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection). She got a strain of E coli that is a product of CAFOs that Industrial Big Ag, the USDA and the FDA works so hard to protect.

Had she eaten free range grass fed beef from a small producer she would still be teaching dance to little kids. Its not a philosophical or economic thing – its a biological thing. The profoundly unhealthy diet of a CAFO steer encourages the human-toxic E coli while grass fed steers do not (its a matter of rumen health, bacterial ecology, and proper pH).

Thats all about bacterial issues that arise in the living animal.

There are also issues that can arise in foods that have been contaminated after butchering from bacteria in the ambient environment. As I just mentioned, our modern CAFO environments contaminate our meats with super bugs that we have not evolved to manage. There are also bacterial species that will colonize your food (raw or cooked) that come from your local environment.

In environments where such foolishness are not the standard, like Colombia, the meat is not pre-tainted with these toxic bacteria (also, obviously, meat you source from ethical farmers who feed their steers the correct diet of grass, 100% of the time).

Remember that Colombia is a tropical country, it is also considered 3rd world. When we lived there, back in the 1960s, it was certainly quite different from the US. My mom, who is American – a Illinois farmer’s daughter, tells of how the meats in the market would be hung out in the heat, without refrigeration, with insects buzzing about it. If you watch No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain, you will often see shots of meat markets just like this. Meat isnt left out like this for long. They butcher enough for that market day. Needless to say the meat was already beginning to ferment before you bought it.

Fermenting is the same as aging. When you buy expensive aged beef, its beef that has begun to ferment.

This fermentation is essentially the same as that you find in pickles, cheese, sourdough bread, etc. The main bacterial species is the lactobacillus. This bacteria begins to digest the food and a waste product (we in science call it a metabolic product) is lactic acid. This lactic acid acidifies the food and then inhibits other human-pathogenic bacteria.

Lactobacilli have been our friends from the beginning (pre-modern human to be certain) and it continues to help us when we make our traditional foods.

The sausages I am writing about today have an enhanced flavor BECAUSE they are fermented or partially digested by lactobacilli.

If you would like to try this recipe without the fermentation step, it will still be delicious but it will not have the characteristic tangy flavor that the lactic acid brings.

I remember my mom and my grandma making this when I was a child. I remember watching them string the sausages up high in the kitchen. I can see in my minds eye the sausages hanging there and how I felt so fascinated by it all. I also remember how delicious they were.

When I mentioned to my mom that I wanted to make these, she surprised me by sending me a meat grinder and then pork casings!

The sweetest part of this all was having my three kids at my side, peering over the edge of the counter in the case of my 3 year old son, watching me use the grinder and watching the meat filling up the casings. They were not grossed out, they were fascinated and they all wanted to give it a try!

It melted my heart, it was a perfect moment for me.

This is the recipe as I got it from my mom. I thought I would share the way she wrote it because it sounded great!

In her voice ….

As I remember, in Colombia, the meat in the chorizos were very finely minced by hand…however, I think you can do this with the food grinder attachment. Even when I grind the meat in the grinder machine, I used the coarse blade so that it would mimic this “hand-minced” meat.

Colombian Chorizos (Salchichas) (Antioquia)

(The kind we used to hang in the kitchen!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of pork, lean, minced
• 2 lbs of beef, lean, minced
• 1/2 lb of pork fat, minced
• 1/2 lb of mild chile peppers, minced ( Poblanos are good)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp of hot cayenne pepper (ground)
• 1 tblsp of oregano and cilantro, finely minced
• 1 tsp of ground cominos (cumin)
• Salt and pepper to your taste
• Pork casings

Directions
Mix everything together, except the casings. Put it in the refrigerator for a couple of days. (I like longer for the tangy taste…but if you’re weirded out with aging meat, don’t do this). Then comes the tricky part, filling the casings. If you have the sausage making attachment to the machine, this is a piece of cake..if not, you have to do it by hand..I’ve done both.

Grinder, in use.

Casings, soaking.

Chunks of meat, just before being fed into the grinder.

Fill the casings with the mixture, giving it a couple of twists with every 4 or 5 inches. When done filling, stab each link with a toothpick to let it release air.

To do this, you need to slip a length of casing onto the sausage tube attachment on your grinder.

When you come to the end of the sausage casing, tie it off (string or with casing) and then make links by twisting.

At this point you can make them or you can age them. To cook them, put them in a pan, cover with water, bring to a simmer, simmer until the water is gone (might want to flip them at some point) and then allow them to continue to cook/fry to caramelize the outside.

They brown up perfectly!

If you are ready to go to the next level to get that unique tangy flavor, you do not cook them but you hang them up.

Hang the links on a clean twine in a nice cool airy place for a day or so.

After a day mine really had no odor at all. They were drier, perhaps shrunk a bit, concentrating flavor for sure.

Like before, you cook them up like any other sausage…first with a little water in a fry pan with a lid, then let them brown.

We also made arepas and yucas fritas (fried yucas) as well as rice to go with this.

Arepas

Arepa masa

Shaped arepas

Cooking arepas in the pan.

They then go into a 400 F oven.

Yucas Fritas

Boil frozen yucas 20 minutes (MUST DO THIS).

Remove yucas from water, cool and allow to dry a bit, then break chunks up into bite sized spears.

Deep fry until golden.

Delicious arepas and yucas fritas are our sides!

It would have been more correct to also serve this with lots of cilantro, avocados, lime, etc but I didnt have those things!

¡Buen Aprovecho!

As an aside, after I posted the photos of these sausages on flickr I got an email from someone asking to order 200 of them! I guess thats the ultimate compliment!

I do not sell these although I understand the request – its hard to get these in the US, ones that taste authentic. This is the first time I have ever made sausages – very easy – but certainly not something I can do as a business proposition! (that is, unless someone wants to get met set up in a rent-free commercial kitchen!)

Arepa de huevo is a Colombian food that I remember from my childhood. Other countries may do this but I do not know much or really anything about other varieties. Arepas are made from a very finely ground corn meal. I will put a recipe or guideline below for making that as well as how-to photos on how to make the arepa with egg below.

My first experience with it was when we visited Colombia 25 years ago. As in other latin american countries, street vendors sell all manner of things. We were on foot somewhere in Bogota, Colombia, and literally by the roadside there was this large woman sitting next to an enormous wok-like pot filled with boiling hot oil. She also had dozens of eggs and arepas. I didn’t really know what to expect when we walked up. I watched her cut open a large arepa (size of your hand, I am used to seeing them more like 1/2 that size), break an egg into the steaming middle of the arepa, pinch it back closed, and slip it quickly down the side of the wok-pot down into the boiling oil. Next thing I know, I am holding a napkin with a steaming hot arepa de huevo inside, tasting it for the first time.

Truly fantastic.

I have always respected the potent possibilities of food poisoning and GI upset that can happen when you eat things in a region where you have not acclimated yourself to the local bugs in the water. On this trip, I experienced food poisoning also for the first time but it was NOT from the Arepa de huevo I had from the street vendor.

Why?

Because this treat is deep fried, making it less likely to be a vector for forborne illnesses.

More important than all of that, it is very delicious!

I had not eaten one in all that time until just the other day, when I finally got down to making them in my own kitchen. They came out so much better than I had anticipated. I hope you will try them too!

Arepa de huevo

Ingredients:

Arepas:

• 1 C “La Venezolana” or “ArepaHarina” precocida masa harina (extremely fine precooked corn meal – you simply can not use any substitutes here, find this ingredient)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 C boiling hot water
• 4 eggs (or more, depending on how far your masa goes)

Hogao:

• 5 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 2 bunches of green onions, finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of ground cominos
• Pinch of ground annatto seeds
• 1/2 cup of packed, chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• salt to taste

Directions:

Saute the listed “hogao” ingredients in the olive oil until wilted, set aside.

Mix the harina and salt and then add the boiling water. Mix until incorporated and set aside for 15 minutes.

Wet hands with cold water and shape hand sized pancakes of harina (about 1/6 inch thick) or use a tortilla press. I used the press in this case but I think I would prefer to recommend the hand method as you get a thicker arepa. With the press, its a delicious crispy thing, just a bit different than I remember.

To use the press:
Put a ball of masa on the press (which you have lined with a freezer ziplock bag, cut to size).

Gently push down on the press so that you mash it flat but not TOO thin.

Open the press and rotate the arepa 180 degrees and press just slightly more to try to even the thickness all around.

Peel back the plastic and either toast in a hot pan like you do with most arepas (below shown with smaller ones), or slip the raw arepa into the hot oil until it puffs up.

Remove and allow to cool.

Carefully cut into the side of the arepa to form a pocket.

Put a spoonful of hogao in the bottom of the fried arepa.

Put an egg into a small cup and then slip the egg into the pocket.

Mend the edge with raw dough and then slip it back into the hot oil for a couple of minutes (until it hits the color you want, light golden brown).

Enjoy hot!

Related Posts:

• How-2 guide on how to make Platanos (fried plantains or tostones)
• Yucas Fritas (Fried Yucas or Cassava Root) Recipe and How 2 photos
• Empanadas – The Recipe
• Flash Flickr Movie of How to make Colombian Empanadas
• Chicharron – Deep fried pork belly – How To
• How to make Colombian Empanadas – directions
• Latest full recipe for Colombian Bunuelos (2006 post)
• Last year’s Christmas Bunuelo Decadence
• A Colombian breakfast How-2 guide
• Colombian Frescos
• Lechona preparation

For this month’s designated driver drink, I had to stretch beyond the trite Saint Patrick’s day “stock drinks”. I also didnt want to explore virgin irish coffees, whats the point?!

Today’s nonalcoholic drink is a fusion between Colombia (my childhood influence) and a drink popular in the 1970s here in the US, the Grasshopper. I put this together because its green but also filled with tropical goodness.

Guanabana (Guanabanus muricatus) is the fruit base. It is called “soursop” by the British (not at all sure why, sour doesnt really describe the unique flavor of this fruit). It is related to the Paw-Paw and Cherimoya. If you live anywhere near an urban center, you may find latino food stores and in those stores, in the freezer section, you will likely find the guanabana pulp frozen into packages. Of course, the fresh fruit will never be replicated by frozen or concentrate, but these frozen pulps are a great stand in.

Regarding the taste. In the case of this fruit, texture is coupled to the flavor. I can not articulate it completely, but there is a textural heaviness or “grit” that coats the mouth while the flavor has a slight tingle/prickly ever-so-slightly sour bite that travels across the roof of the mouth and a bit on the back of the tongue.

If you have had guanabana and like to describe it differently, please comment because I would love to see how others experience this fruit.

I remember my parents making grasshoppers and pink panthers at home. My mom says it was a 70s thing. It marked my childhood, just like Elvis, skateboards, and Sha Na Na did.

The typical grasshopper contains Green Crème De Menthe, light cream, and Crème De Cacao. Yikes, talk about heavy. My parents would make non-alcoholic versions of it with ice cream.

This grasshopper that I have put together for you today is a more globalized version. It contains a lot more vitamin C and a lot less proccessed “Creme“, whatever THAT is.

Gobstopping Grasshoppers

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen package of Guanabana pulp
• 1 C cold skim milk (I used skim because thats what we had on hand, you use what you like)
• 1/2 C white granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon freshly minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon Key Lime Juice
• pinch of salt
• 2 large tablespoon dollops non-dairy whipped cream (Cool Whip)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint (In this case, my fresh mint was “displaced” by a family member, I had to use a scant drop of mint extract)

Directions:

Blend all these ingredients into a frothy cold shake and serve in frozen mugs or goblets.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Spirit World, Well Fed Network, designated driver drink, Saint Patrick’s day, irish coffee, nonalcoholic, Colombia, Grasshopper, tropical, soursop, British, Paw-Paw, Cherimoya, latino, guanabana, pulp, fresh, pink panthers, Elvis, skateboard, Sha Na Na, Crème De Menthe, Crème De Cacao, ice cream, globalized, vitamin C, Creme, Gobstopping, ginger, Key Lime Juice, whipped cream, mint

I am slowly, ever so slowly, finding stores within a 50 mile radius of where I live that have the ingredients I need to make Colombian and also Japanese foods. The first 30 miles of that travel is through a foodie wasteland so don’t be impressed with the distance I travel for food .

One ingredient that I have found that reminds me of my childhood is this pack of sausages from Colombia called “Chorizo Montañera“. The spices are exactly like the salchichas I remember my grandmother and mother making and then hanging from the “rafters” in the kitchen. They would dry and release this transcendent aroma.. exactly like these sausages.

If you are a Colombian far from home or your abuela or mamá, try to find some of these and give them a try.

Technorati Tags: ingredient, Colombian, Chorizo Montañera, salchicha, abuela, mamá

Ahh, this was yesterday’s lunch. For supper we had the soup, more meat, all over rice. This sort of food is just so amazingly fulfilling and filling. It is very fulfilling for the cook who likes to create foods that are rich, deep in flavor, and that start from very inauspicious ingredients. Oxtails are about as simple as you can get. No pretense!

I looked through all of my new latino cookbooks – Mexico One Plate At A Time, Mexican Everyday, and Secrets of Colombian Cooking – and did not find any recipes for this soup, nor did I find anything in my enormous Gourmet Cookbook (again, it strikes out.. one day I may actually make something from that cookbook). I wasn’t able to find anything about actual cooking of oxtails in my Culinary Institute of America The Professional Chef book either, pity. So, I did the sensible thing and turned to my The Joy of Cooking. In it, I found the basics and went from there. The way I did it, it took 2 days. No reason to rush this.

I made the tortillas fresh from my new Rick Bayless cookbook, Mexico One Plate At A Time. I used the dry Maseca Corn Masa Mix and his recipe. Finally, I was able to make tortillas that were presentable! His directions are absolutely perfect. He is a GOD (*winks*) He also seems like a nice guy, would like to meet him one day.

If you look at the photos, you will see this mysterious symbol at the center of my tortillas. Ah, yes, the tortilla Illuminati.. no, wait, actually, read to the bottom and you will see.

Onward to the recipes

Oxtail Soup, adapted from The Joy of Cooking

(about 7 C output)

Ingredients:

• Package of cut up oxtails (mine was something like 5 lbs, rinse them really well before use)
• olive oil
• sea salt
• 2 carrots
• 1 shallot
• 1/2 large onion
• 8 C cold water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 C squash, diced
• 10 quartered button mushrooms

Directions:

Day 1

Grab a heavy bottom dutch oven/stock pot and add some olive oil, heat to medium high. Rinse oxtails and pat dry. Sprinkle with a slight amount of salt and ground pepper. Sear in the pot until a nice dark brown all over (will get your house smokey, become one with the smoke) .

Add 8 C cold water and bay leaves, bring to a simmer on low and covered. Simmer at least 4 hours. Cool pot and then put it in the fridge (we put ours in our mud room, our extra fridge in the winter) overnight.

Day 2

Remove solidified fat from surface of soup and then heat slowly back up to a simmer (covered). Add 1 C diced squash and 10 quartered button mushrooms.

Simmer for 3 hours and longer, as long as you can hold yourself at bay.

Joy says to remove the meat and fat from the bones and put only the meat back in. I left it all on the bone because people around here like to gnaw meat from bones, go figure.

Las Tortillas

As I mentioned before, I have started delving into my new cookbook by Rick Bayless, Mexico One Plate At A Time, and the first thing I wanted to try was his method for making corn tortillas. I am going to paraphrase it here, there are many more details is in the book itself.

A while back, Homesick Texan did a beautiful post on making corn tortillas. She used a nifty tortilla press, which I do not have. To make both my corn and flour tortillas, I use a cast iron pan. In particular, I use this square Emerilware cast iron grill pan because it is darn heavy. (I got it for free when I bought a set of Emerilware stainless steel pots and pans at Linens and Things, its awesome stuff – All Clad)

It works like a charm BUT there is one issue. Almost every tortilla I make is embossed with the “Emeril” logo that is on the bottom of the pan. So my tortillas say “liremE” (tho not terribly legibly). Thats the funky circle you see on the tortilla in today’s photos. Without further trivial ado, here are the details.

Bayless Tortillas

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 C Maseca Corn Masa Mix
• 1C & 2 tablespoons hot water (actually as much as is needed, see directions)

Directions:

Have two cast iron pans (well seasoned), both dry, one on medium low heat (for 1st stage) and the other on medium high heat (for 2nd stage).

Mix 1C hot water with the Maseca with your hands. Incorporate more water until it is like a soft cookie dough but not sticky. Since I live the the cold frozen dry-as-a-bone-North East, I had to add a lot of water because the Maseca was quite dessicated.

Make dough balls the size of large walnuts (or to the size you think works best for you). Cut open a heavy duty 1 gallon freezer zip-lock back, down the sides but not along the bottom (so it opens up into a long rectangle). You can use a tortilla press or my method (the counter and a heavy pan pushed down onto the ball from above). Squish the ball flat, open the press or pull away the pan, and rotate the bag 180 degrees and squish again. This evens it out.

Peel off one side of the plastic bag, lay the tortilla onto your hand and then peel off the other side of the bag. Gently put this raw tortilla in the cooler pan and allow to cook 15 or so seconds. It wont take on any brown color but you can tell, when you flip it in a second, that it has cooked a bit. Take a fork and gently pick up this partially cooked tortilla and flip over and into the hotter pan. Let it cook 30 to 45 seconds and then flip again and cook some 15 seconds. Bayless said that if you did a good job with the masa dough, the tortilla should puff a bit at this stage, mine did! It should NOT end up looking like a pita bread tho.

Remove to something like another 1 gallon zip lock bag that holds in heat and moisture so that the tortillas soften up a bit (might need to put the bag between foil or some cloths).

Enjoy with a bit of salt, butter, and your oxtail meat!

Books of Interest:

• The Joy of Cooking Comb-Bound Edition: Revised and Expanded
• Mexico One Plate At A Time by Rick Bayless
• Mexican Everyday (Recipes Featured on Season 4 of the PBS-TV series “Mexico One Plate at a Time”)
• Secrets of Colombian Cooking (Hippocrene Cookbook Library)
• The Gourmet Cookbook: More than 1000 recipes
• The Professional Chef, Seventh Edition

Products of Interest:

• Emerilware Cast Iron 10 inch Square Grill Pan
• Emerilware Stainless 10-Piece Cookware Set
• Norpro Cast Aluminum Tortilla Press
• Maseca Corn Masa Mix, For Corn Tortillas, 4 lbs
• Clay Art Santiago Tortilla Warmer
• Pfaltzgraff Sedona 10-Inch Tortilla Warmer

Technorati Tags: lunch, soup, meat, latino, cookbook, Mexico One Plate At A Time, Mexican Everyday, Secrets of Colombian Cooking, recipe, Gourmet Cookbook, oxtail, Culinary Institute of America, The Professional Chef, The Joy of Cooking, Rick Bayless, Maseca Corn Masa Mix, tortilla, Illuminati, Oxtail Soup, sea salt, corn tortilla, Homesick Texan, Emeril

Some interesting news about Ingrid Hoffman, the Colombian star of the Delicioso TV food show that I first learned about from Elaine at Latina Viva.

The Food Network has signed Hoffman to a multi-year contract to do a cooking show that certainly will explore Colombian Cooking. (See the press release here – its a PDF) Going by comments that were offered in Elaine’s review of Delicioso, the Colombian cooking of Hoffman will likely be more of an American-ized sort of fare versus “real” Colombian cooking (of which you see a lot here on my blog, try this section for various recipes and how-2 guides). This is about Food Network’s speed, fine with me. Just dont think you are getting the “real” sabor or flavor of Colombia.

(Colombian Empanadas – Copyright © 2006 Nika Boyce All Rights Reserved)

I am open to the possibility that she will show “real” colombian cooking.. It would be great to see her up to her elbows in masa harina: making empanadas, arepas, or tamal. Heck, I would love to see her making a sancocho or, god forbid, chicharrones!

Somehow, I fear that may not be in the offing, though I will give her the benefit of the doubt.

Ms. Hoffman has built a big following by essentially being a VERY busy woman. Besides being the fetching star of the Univision channel’s cooking show Delicioso, she does the following:

Appears on Univision’s Despierta America (Oh the wacky world of hispanic TV. It takes a bit of getting used to)

Contributes to Buenhogar (A spanish “Good HouseKeeping” if you will)

Publishes a bi-weekly syndicated column in the Rumbo (chain of Spanish language daily newspapers)

I look forward to some fresh Latina input at the Food Network. Bobby Flay (who does New Yorker-Southwest. Ever see those Pace Picante Sauce commercials about sauce made in New Yawk City?, yeah its like that) is so immensely over-exposed, he needs a break. Ok, I need a break but its always nicer be charitable, right?

Now, if the Food Network would show more Rick Bayless, I might tune in, when I am not watching my TIVO Bourdains that is.

Pues, Viva La Latina!

Watch Ms Hoffman and check it out.

Technorati Tags: news, Ingrid Hoffman, Colombian, Delicioso, TV, food show, Latina Viva, The Food Network, Hoffman, Colombian Cooking, sabor, flavor, Colombia, masa harina, empanadas, arepas, tamal, sancocho, chicharrones, Univision, Despierta America, Buenhogar, Good HouseKeeping, Rumbo, Latina, Bobby Flay, Pace Picante Sauce, Rick Bayless, Bourdain

Around 11:30 or so last night, after debating various nominations ALL DAY LONG with other judges, I very nearly didnt want to ever blog or surf blogs again!

I know, its shocking, but true.

I must be ok because here I am today adding even MORE content to the huge food blogosphere (for better or worse). I have learned a lot and gained so much perspective from the exposure to so many different blogs. (Even if it did leave me quivering with hyper-exposure overstimulation syndrome, something I will call HOS for short).

I found the perfect visual personification of my experience over at Grab Your Fork’s blog in today’s post “Cafe Mix, Sydney“.

Visit, but for the love of all that is good and holy, be sure to be hungry before you go!

In the spirit of stretch-mark inducing cuisine, I will share a sparsely worded pictorial of what it takes to prepare a pig for a latino pig roast (traditional at Christmas and New Years).

Be warned, we ARE talking about carnage and reality here. If you are a vegetarian or of a delicate constitution you may not wish to scroll further down.

I am planning to do more of these in the future. One showing the making of salchichas (colombian sausages) (also see these pics) either by a butcher or myself (have to get a meat grinder 1st though). I also promise better pictures because today I will be taking delivery of a new flash bracket and 580ex flash for just these purposes!

Related Posts:

• How-2 guide on how to make Platanos (fried plantains or tostones)
• Yucas Fritas (Fried Yucas or Cassava Root) Recipe and How 2 photos
• Empanadas – The Recipe
• Flash Flickr Movie of How to make Colombian Empanadas
• Chicharron – Deep fried pork belly – How To
• How to make Colombian Empanadas – directions
• Latest full recipe for Colombian Bunuelos (2006 post)
• Last year’s Christmas Bunuelo Decadence
• A Colombian breakfast How-2 guide
• Colombian Frescos
• Lechona preparation

One of my most enduring memories from Colombian Christmases would have to be eating tamales at midnight on Christmas Eve. Even though I now live way the h*ll north of the beautiful equatorial paradise that is Colombia and far from my mom, I set out to make my own tamales this year (first time for me). I have put together a few pictures of the assembly process to help you with the how-to. Since I was shooting in the kitchen with low crappy lighting and also taking care of three kids and dealing with a delivery man, all at once, my shots are not the best here and not in great focus. I apologize for that ahead of time!

This is best done surrounded by all of your favorite relatives (preferably mamas, abuelitas, and tias who know how to do this and who have all sorts of stories to tell) so that you have help and make it all go by quickly. I had just myself!

• 20 chicken thighs, skinned and defatted (save this. Can be rendered to crisps and schmaltz for other recipes).
• 20 pork ribs about the length of your finger with a good amount of meat on them. You’ll probably have to buy them as a rack and chop them up yourself. (If you don’t want pork ribs, use 20 chicken legs)

Marinade:

• 3 bunches of green onions, finely chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 heaping tsps of ground cominos
• 1 tsp of salt
• Pinch of ground annatto seeds

Hogao:

• 5 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 2 bunches of green onions, finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of ground cominos
• Pinch of ground annatto seeds
• 1/2 cup of packed, chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• salt to taste

4 C “La Venezolana” or “ArepaHarina” precocida (extremely fine precooked corn meal – you simply can not use any substitutes here, find this ingredient)

Tamales:

• 5 large carrots, peeled and 1/4″ sliced
• 2 cups of frozen green peas
• 5 large red potatoes, scrubbed, 1/4″ sliced (put in water to prevent discoloration)
• 8 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and 1/4″ sliced

Package of thawed/frozen banana “platano” leaves (latino food store), cut into 12 inch square pieces and rinsed in VERY hot tap water.

Clean string or cord used for tying meat roasts.

Aluminum foil

A very large crab or lobster steamer with a bottom rack and lid. Fill with salted water about 3 ” above the bottom rack.

Pique Sauce:

• 6 cleaned green onions
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup of minced cilantro
• 1 tsp of ground comino
• 1/8 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of white vinegar
• salt to taste

Directions:

Two or three days before:
Put the chicken and ribs in separate containers. (Or if you are substituting more chicken, you can put all the meat in one container). Prepare the marinade from the ingredients listed above, divide and put 1/2 on the chicken and the other 1/2 on the ribs. With your hands, work the marinade into the meats. Cover and refrigerate until the next day.

Saute the listed “hogao” ingredients in the olive oil until wilted, set aside.

Preparation of the “Masa”:
Corn dough or “masa”. Put 4 cups of “La Venezolana” or “ArepaHarina” in a large bowl or container. Slowly add 5 cups of lukewarm (not hot) water or chicken broth. You’ll probably have to use your hands to mix well. Most likely, you will need to add more water to get the “masa” to the consistency of cooked oatmeal or grits. This dough does not have the stiff consistency of “empanada” dough.

Assembly and cooking of the Tamales:
Place about a cup of the dough in the center of the banana leaf. Place one rib and one chicken thigh on top. Place about 3 slices each of the carrots, potatoes and egg on the meat. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of “hogao” on top of the vegetables and egg. Then spoon about a 1/2 cup of “masa” on top of all of this and gently spread as much out as you can. Now, fold the edges of the banana leaf over the filling so as to make a package. Do not let any of the filling show. If the leaf splits, just take another smaller piece of leaf and fold it around the package.

Tie up the package/tamale with the string or cord. Believe me, this tying up of the tamales in banana leaves takes practice!! After you have tied up the tamale/package, tear off a 12″ sheet of aluminum foil and wrap it tightly around the tamale. Continue with the other tamales according to the above directions. Stack the tamales all the way to the top in the steamer pot and turn up the heat to high. If your pot does not hold all of them, just refrigerate the rest until you can steam them later, or, borrow another steamer pot. When you hear the water boiling furiously, turn the heat down to medium. Always make sure that the pot is steaming and that there is enough water in it. Cover tightly and steam for at least 3 hours. After that time, remove the top tamale and open it up to make sure that the meat is thoroughly cooked. It should be falling off the bone.

Serve the tamales on a section of banana leaf. (Warn guests not to eat the leaf! A favorite Colombian story is that a Gringo was served a tamale. When he finished it he said,”Boy, was this delicious!! However, the lettuce was kind of tough!!” (har,har).

Some Colombians like to put “pique” on their tamales.

To make pique sauce:
This sauce/relish is similar to “pico de gallo” except it does not include the minced jalapeno. If you want to use jalapeno, you can, but it’s not legitimate Colombian. This relish is spooned into a bitten-off empanada or onto arepas, into tamales, etc. Yummmm! Its like a taste of sunshine!

Finely mince the green onions and the garlic. Add the other ingredients and let marinate for at least 2 hours. There should be enough liquid to almost reach the top of the relish. You may have to adjust by adding a little more vinegar.

I made enough to freeze (raw) and will see how they cook up out of the freezer at a later date!

Related Posts:

• How-2 guide on how to make Platanos (fried plantains or tostones)
• Yucas Fritas (Fried Yucas or Cassava Root) Recipe and How 2 photos
• Empanadas – The Recipe
• Flash Flickr Movie of How to make Colombian Empanadas
• Chicharron – Deep fried pork belly – How To
• How to make Colombian Empanadas – directions
• Latest full recipe for Colombian Bunuelos (2006 post)
• Last year’s Christmas Bunuelo Decadence
• A Colombian breakfast How-2 guide
• Colombian Frescos
• Lechona preparation

Technorati taggage:
food, Colombia, Colombian, tamal, christmas, navidad, latin, latino, hispanic, tamales.