Rice with hearts of palm - Costa Rica

Rice with heart of palm is a delicious dish very typical from Costa Rica. Additionally, it's simple to cook, and heart of palm can be easily found in Spain at Mercadona.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of rice.

- 2 cups of water.

- 1 cup of milk.

- 1 cup of evaporated milk or cream.

- 2 tablespoons of oil.

- 2 tablespoons of flour.

- 60 grams of butter.

- 1 onion.

- 1 garlic clove.

- 1 green pepper.

- 1 can of heart of palm.

- White pepper.

- Nutmeg.

- 1 and 1/2 cuos of mozzarella cheese for grting.

- 4 slices of mozzarella cheese.

Method:

1- Cut the onion,garlic,pepper and hearts of palm into litle pieces. Pour the oil in a casserole and fry onion,garlic and pepper until the onion gets transparent.

2- Add the rice and cook for a minute, then add 2 cups of water, put on a high heat until it boils and then put on a low heat and cook covered with a lid for 20 minutes.

3- While the rice cooks, let's do the dairy mixture. Take another casserole, put the butter and the flour, mix well (in a low heat):

4- Add a cup of evaporated milk or cream and another cup of milk, stir and cook at low heat for 5 minutes.

5- Add the heart of palm, salt, pepper and nutmeg, stir well and keep cooking for about 15 minutes.

7- Add the rice, mix well , cook for 5 more minutes and add the slices of mozarella cheese, mix well and pour everything in an oven proof dish.

8- Put some mozzarela cheese to grate on top of all the surface. After that put inside the oven to grate until you see that the cheese gets golden.

Serve hot!

You can also watch the recipe at my Youtube Channel:

Here you have my  favourite cooking tools: https://viaja-en-mi-cocina-english.blogspot.com/2023/05/shop.html

Costa Rica

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Aborrajados from Colombia

Aborrajado is a typical Colombian dessert , original from the Cauca Valley.

This dessert has received the influence from the african gastronomy.

It was the XIX century when african slaves started to use smashed plantain as a wrapping for the food , they started to wrap pork meat, this is known today in Cali as 'Marranitas'.

It was in the Cauca Valley where they started to fill the plantain with farmer cheese and bathed it in a mixture of flour and egg to fry them after that.

Today they add guava paste to the filling as well.

You can use mozzarella cheese or a type of cheese that melts well.

aborrajado can be eaten accompanied by milk, like a side dish or tapa.

The key point is to use ripe plantain  (those who have almost black skin), these plantains are the sweetest.

Ingredients:

- 2 ripe plantains.
- 200 grams mozzarella cheese.
- 200 grams guava paste.
- 6 tablespoon flour.
- 2 eggs.
- 4 tablespoon milk.
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar.

Method:

1- Peel and cut the platains in 4 or 5 pieces.

2- Fry the plantain in not too hot oil, let it get cool on an absorbent paper to get rid of the oil.

3- Take a bowl, put 2 eggs inside and whisk. Add milk and mix well.

4- Add sugar ,a pinch of salt and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.

Add the flour little by little and mix well.

5- Cut cheese and guava paste:

6- Cover a piece of plantain with transparent film, smash it with the help of a dish.

7- Put some cheese and guava paste in the center of the smashed plantain, wrap it and make a ball.

8- Bathe every ball in the dough made of egg and flour. Fry in hot oil.

9- Put on an absorbent paper to get rid of the oil. You should eat them while they are hot.

 

Receta en Español

You can also watch the recipe at my Youtube Channel:

Colombia

Cheese Kadaif

                                                                               Receta en Español

I already have made a dessert with Kadaif to present Albania: Nuts Kadaif , the same dessert can be eaten in Armenia, it is delicious, but in Armenia they also make cheese kadaif.

This dessert is also called Kunafa.

Ingredients:

• 340 grams of butter.
• 500 grams Kadaif.
• 400 grams fresh mozzarella cheese.
• 80 grams goat cheese.
• 400 grams sugar.
• 1/2 liter water.
• 1 sachet vanilla sugar.
• A splash of lemon juice.
• Pine nuts or other kind of nuts.

Method:

1-  Extend Kadaif for 2 hours to make it get dry ,turn it on the other side and let it dry for another 2 hours.

2-  Spread half of the Kadaif on an oven proof dish, if Kadaif is very long you can cut it.

3- Prepare ghee, it is clarified butter. It is important to make this clarification to prevent butter to get burnt into the oven , given that the white part of the butter is the part that gets the higher temperature.

Heat butter , once it is liquid , turn the fire off. Take a spoon, and get rid of the white part of the butter that remains on the upper side.

4- Pour half of the liquid butter all over the surface of the Kadaif.  

5- Cut both cheeses into slices and put them over the Kadaif , building some layers.



6-  Spread the rest of Kadaif.

7-  Pour the remaining butter.

8- Preheat oven at 200 ºC. Cook in oven for 25 minutes until it gets brown. Let it cool.

For syrup:

9 - Take a pan, combine sugar, water, vanilla and a dash of lemon, bring it to a boil. Stir until sugar is well dissolved. It should take 30 minutes. Then turn off the heat and pour the cold water.

10 - Once Kataifi is cold, pour Syrup over it. Sprinkle pine nuts and let it cool at least 1 hour to let the syrup dry. The more you wait the more delicious it will be. Then cut in pieces and serve.

Where to buy Kataifi in Madrid

You can buy Kataifi near Madrid mosque, at Antonio Calvo street , I bought it at 'El Hogar'.

My Comments to the recipe:

When I made Nuts Kadaif I noted that I should pour all the syrup and the taste of the dessert is marvellous 24 hours after it has absorbed all the syrup.
In this case, it is not the same because cheese doesn't allow Kadaif to absorb the syrup, it is better to eat it when still hot.



Armenia