Cooking Web

About Dominican cooking

Healthy Cooking, Healthy Recipes, Healthy Lifestyle

Healthy cooking, healthy recipes, vegetarian cooking, and cooking health food in general has a 'bad rap'. The general misconception is that healthy cooking recipes, and low fat receipes are just plain boring, tasteless, and bland.

That's just not true...

Cooking receipes can be both healthy and tasty. You just have to learn a few simple steps to healthy cooking.

Fact: the average restaurant meal contains 1,000 to 2,000 calories, and 50 to 100 grams of fat! (A normal person's recommended daily intake of calories is around 2,000.) No wonder the diet and weight loss industry is so huge...

The roots of healthy cooking recipes lies within your control. The truth is, you're in full control of your eating habits. You decide whether you want to cook healthy food at home or dine out, and whether you use more healthy cooking recipes ingredients and less fattening, and processed foods.

If you've read this far, then you must have a desire to learn healthy cooking recipes, attain better health and happiness through eating and cooking healthy foods.

Dominican cuisine is easy and spontaneous. As in any other part of the world, recipes are passed down from generation to generation in the kitchen of our Grandmas, Aunties and Moms. Because the recipes are not always written down, we learn how to cook our vernacular dishes, yet we could hardly tell how much of "this" or what proportion of "that" is needed.

Breakfast for Dominicans is usually a light meal; the same dishes prepared for dinner are also prepared for breakfast, especially when one needs a hearty start to the day. A typical Dominican breakfast could consist of mang¨² accompanied by scrambled eggs and topped with saut¨¦ed onions.A few pieces of boiled cassava or another root is a good substitute for the mang¨². This can also be accompanied by a few slices of deep fried Dominican cheese (its consistency and taste similar to that of Feta cheese, but is made of cow's milk). You may also accompany it with a couple of slices of deep-fried salami. A cup of cocoa, or coffee with milk is a suitable ending to this breakfast.

La comida (lunch) is the most important meal in the Dominican Republic. The family will gather around the table to share La Bandera Dominicana (the Dominican flag), our typical lunch. This consists of a combination of rice, beans, meat (or seafood) and salad or a side dish, and when prepared correctly, it becomes a meal that includes all food groups. The fresh ingredients provide for a meal that is not only delicious but also healthy and nutritious. Accompany your lunch with a glass of ice water and end it with dessert, followed by a cup of coffee (un cafecito).

Sancocho recipe

Sancocho is, without doubt, Dominican's most cherished culinary treasure. It is a dish that is usually prepared for special occasions. Its preparation is long and it contains many ingredients. However, the time it takes to prepare is the time best enjoyed with friends, while drinking a little rum or a cold beer. The traditional one is made of beef, however the Sancocho de Siete Meat (7-meat Stew) is the deluxe version. You can skip the other meats if you want.

Time: 90 Mins
Difficulty: Advanced
Serve: 6 people

Before starting to cook: Wash the meat (except the pork sausages) with warm water and scrub with the cut lemon. Cut the meat in small pieces.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of goat meat
• 1 lb. pork sausage
• 1 lb pork
• 2 lbs beef with bones
• 1 1/2 lb chicken
• 2 lbs of pork ribs
• 1 lb of bones from a smoked ham
• 4 lemons cut in halves
• 1 tablespoon of mashed garlic
• 4 tablespoons of oil
• 2 large green bell peppers chopped into cubes
• 1/2 lb of cassava cut into 1-inch thick pieces
• 2 large onions
• 1/2 lb of yam cut into 1-inch thick pieces
• 2 tablespoons of celery
• 1/2 lb of malanga cut into 1-inch thick pieces
• 1/2 lb of potatoes cut into 1-inch thick pieces
• 3 unripe plantains, 2 cut into 1-inch thick pieces
• 2 cubes of beef stock
• 1/2 cup of capers
• 2 corn cobs cut into 2-inches long pieces (may be omitted)
• 1/2 teaspoon of powdered oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon of thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon of coriander/cilantro
• 2 teaspoons of vinegar
• 2 teaspoons of Tabasco sauce

Preparation:

Place the beef in a pan and add the herbs, garlic, vinegar, capers, spices and salt. Stir to distribute evenly. In an iron pot heat the oil, add the beef and stir (be careful with hot oil splattering). Cover and wait one minute, then stir again. Add a few spoons of water if mixture sticks to the pot. Continue this process for 20 minutes. Add the pork and let simmer for 15 minutes, adjust water when necessary. Add the rest of the meat to the mix, add the chicken stock and let simmer for another 10 minutes.

Add 1/4 gallon of water and bring to a boil. Add the yam, malanga and the two plantains that you had previously cut. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Grate the remaining plantain and add to the pot. Add all remaining ingredients and adjust water when necessary. Stir regularly to avoid excessive sticking. Let simmer until the last ingredients you added are tender. Take two cups of the roots our of the pot, mash them in a separate bowl and add back to the stew. Let simmer until the stew is thick.

More info about the cooking recipes, please visit Web Dominicana.

Home | Cooking Recipes | Cooking Advice | Cooking Tips | Cooking Club | Cooking School | Indian Cooking | Quick Cooking

Copyright © 2005 Cooking Web. All Rights Reserved.