HOW TO COOK BALEADAS

A quick and satisfying breakfast, lunch or evening meal, baleadas are thick flour tortillas folded over a variety of fillings. The most common filling for baleadas is a simple mix of beans, cheese and the Honduran-style sour cream known asmantequilla.

More elaborate fillings include meat, eggs and avocado. Customize to your taste. For a fast snack, you can use store-bought flour tortillas. But for authentic flavor, make your own. It's easy!

4 to 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

-Flour tortillas (recipe below) -- 8

-Refried beans -- 2 cups

-Crumbled queso duro, cotija or feta cheese -- 1/2 cup

-Mexican-style sour cream (cream agria) -- 1/4 cup

METHOD

Heat an ungreased griddle, comal or skillet over medium flame. Meanwhile, heat up the refried beans in a saucepan, stirring in a little water.

Place a tortilla into the skillet and heat it on both sides to soften it up. Place the tortilla on a serving plate. Smear some refried beans on one half of the tortilla, sprinkle it with some crumbled cheese and drizzle it with a little sour cream. Fold the tortilla in half over the filling.

Repeat with the remaining tortillas and serve hot.

BALEADAS VARIATIONS

You can mix a lot of thing to baleada like meat, avocado, "chorizo", sweet pepper or chile.

-Other Baleadas Fillings: Scrambled eggs; cooked and seasoned ground beef or pork, sliced avocado, pickled jalapeños, or repollo coleslaw (see curtido recipe).

-Tortillas de Harina (Homemade flour tortillas): Flour tortillas in Honduras are a little thicker than those of their Mexican friends to the north. Making your own at home is easy, but it does take a little time. You'll fall in love with the results:

.Flour -- 2 cups

.Baking powder -- 1 teaspoon

.Salt -- pinch

.Water or milk -- 1/2 to 3/4 cup

.Butter, lard or oil -- 3 tablespoons

Mix together the flour baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir in 1/2 cup of the water or milk to form a dough. Work in the butter, lard or oil until smooth. Add more liquid or flour as needed to form a smooth dough that isn't too sticky.

Remove the dough to a floured work surface and knead until smooth. Cover with a clean dish towel and set aside to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Heat an ungreased comal, griddle or skillet over medium flame. Cut the dough into 8 equal portions and roll each portion into a ball. Roll each ball out into roughly an 8-inch round, about 1/8-inch thick.

Place a dough round onto the hot comal and cook for about 1 minute on each side, or until the tortilla has browned spots and is lightly puffed. Set aside and repeat with the remaining dough rounds.

LOOK AT THIS 

Or you can taste the traditional one

Source: http://www.whats4eats.com/

BEANS AND RICE IN OUR COUNTRIES

Sorry that I haven´t made post this month, I have been really busy with my job and other things, but I will always come back to share more info with everyone about this little bridge of the continent!!

Today a Post about food, or more specific about a traditional dish called Beans and rice! Actually in every country this meal is called differently. For instance, in Honduras is called Casamiento, which is something like Marriage, yes, a marriage between the black or red beans with the lovely rice.
In Nicaragua and Costa Rica is called Gallo Pinto.

More about this now!

Gallo pinto is a traditional dish of Nicaragua and Costa Rica made of rice with beans cooked all together. It has more rice than beans. There are disputes between the Costarricans and Nicaraguans about who invented this dish. Most Latin Americans agree that the dish is part of both countries now and that they share more similarities than differences.



The history and origin of the name gallo pinto are poorly understood because no one knows exactly where Central American region originated. The dish itself has existed in Latin America since it was brought by African slaves, who called it several different names. It does not matter how you call rice and beans, gallopinto, Gallo pinto or other variations, the dish remains as the main staple diet for many central Americans and Latin Americans situated close to the Caribbean. From New Orleans to the Venezuelan coast, we all eat some type of rice and bean variation.

When the red beans and rice are combined, the rice gets colored by the beans, and the mix results in a multi-colored, or speckled appearance. Beans are quickly cooked until the juice is almost consumed. Gallo pinto means "spotted rooster" in Spanish, thus t

he name fits with the colored rice.



Regarding the true nature of gallo pinto, it is believed that it came to be known through the Afro-Latino immigrants who live on the Caribbean coasts. They simply call it "rice and beans" and prepare it with coconut oil and/or shredded coconut. A similar dish is found in Panama and in El Salvador where it is called casamiento.

This tasty combination is prepared in different ways depending on the country, but in my opinion the best is the one from Costa Rica. They take this dish seriostly. Now the recepy!

Gallo Pinto (beans and rice) Recipe

1 lb (450 gr.) Black beans. Fresh are best but most likely you’ll find them dried.

8-10 sprigs cilantro (coriander leaf) fresh or frozen, not dried!

1 small or medium onion

½ small red or yellow sweet pepper (optional)

3 cups (700 ml) chicken broth or water

2 cups (350 ml) white rice

½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt

1 Tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil

1-3 Tablespoon oil to fry the Gallo Pinto

If beans are dried, cover with water and soak overnight, if they are fresh, just rise them off. Drain the beans and add fresh water to an inch (2.5-cm) above the top of the beans, salt, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and reduce heat to very low simmer until beans are soft (~3 hours).Chop cilantro, onion, and sweet pepper very fine.

Add 1 Tablespoon oil to a large pan and sauté the dry rice for 2 minutes over medium high flame then add half of the chopped onion, sweet pepper and cilantro and sauté another 2 minutes. Add water or chicken broth, bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer until rice is tender (20-35 minutes). This is also the recipe for Tico rice used in other favorites like tamales.

Once the rice and beans are cooked you can refrigerate or freeze them. Keep a significant amount of the “black water” with the beans (½-1 cup 120-240 ml). This is what gives the rice its color and some of its flavor. Sauté the rice, beans reserved chopped onion, sweet pepper and cilantro together in vegetable oil for a few minutes. Sprinkle with a little fresh chopped cilantro just before serving.

Now, how do you serve this delicious meal?

With everything, in the breakfast is eaten with scrambled eggs and toast. Maybe with tortillas, Sour cream and cheese. In the lunch you can use some kind of salad or meat. It goes very well with red meat.



And in the dinner it can be served with Salchichon (Sausage) and bacon. Is up to you, but one thing is for sure. Its Great and tasty, and very cheap and easy to make!!



Enjoy a good Gallo Pinto, Casamiento, Moros y Cristianos, which is basically the same.

Boon apettite!!

And Now a video with the recipe so you can watch it live!

Source: http://costa-rica-guide.com/travel/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=282&Itemid=489

HOW TO COOK PUPUSAS

Ok, more food. Well, i am hungry at the moment, and i was thinking about El Salvador, so i said, i´ll make a post about the most famous food in this country.

Let me be clear, in Honduras we also have pupusas, but everybody says that they come from El Salvador. And one of the things that i remember from my first trip to San Salvador, is their delicious mixed pupusas.

You know, the best was the price, for us was almost funny, because you could get very good ones for just 25 cents of a dollar. The current money in this country is US $ just to be clear.

In some small towns you can get them for 20 cents. I am talking about 4 years ago, i don't think the price would be the same now, but i can tell they are cheap and good!! 

Now, a bit of info about this dish!!

A pupusa (from Pipil pupusaw) is a traditional Salvadoran dish made of thick, hand-made corn tortilla (made using masa de maíz, a maize flour dough used in Latin American cuisine) that is usually filled with a blend of the following: cheese (queso) (usually a soft cheese called Quesillo found in all Central America), cooked pork meat ground to a paste consistency (called chicharrón, not to be confused with fried pork rind, which is also known as chicharrón in some other countries), refried beans (frijoles refritos), or queso con loroco (loroco is a vine flower bud from Central America).

Pupusas are similar to corn tortillas, only thicker and stuffed with cheese, beans or meat. The pupusa originated in El Salvador, but it is also popular in neighboring Honduras. Pupusas are traditionally made by slapping the dough back and forth between greased palms.

Here´s the recipe:

Makes 4 or 5 pupusas

Ingredients
Masa harina -- 2 cups
Warm water -- 1 cup
Filling (see variations) -- 1 cup

Method
In a large bowl, mix together the masa harina and water and knead well. Knead in more water, one tablespoonful at a time if needed, to make a moist, yet firm dough. (It should not crack at the edges when you press down on it.) Cover and set aside to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
Roll the dough into a log and cut it into 8 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball.
Press an indentation in each ball with your thumb. Put about 1 tablespoon of desired filling into each indentation and fold the dough over to completely enclose it. Press the ball out with your palms to form a disc, taking care that that the filling doesn't spill out.
Line a tortilla press with plastic and press out each ball to about 5 or 6 inches wide and about 1/4-inch thick. If you don't have a tortilla press, place the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap or wax paper and roll it out with a rolling pin.
Heat a greased skillet over medium-high flame. Cook each pupusa for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until lightly browned and blistered. Remove to a plate and hold warm until all pupusas are done.

Variations

This recipe uses masa harina, a special dried cornmeal flour used in making tortillas, tamales, etc. If you are able to get fresh masa, definitely use it instead. The flavor will be much fresher. Just substitute the masa harina and water with fresh masa. One pound will make about 4 to 6 pupusas depending on size.
Pupusas de Queso: With a cheese filling. Use grated quesillo, queso fresco, farmer's cheese, mozzarella, Swiss cheese or a combination. Add some minced green chile if you like.
Pupusas de Chicharrones: With a filling of fried chopped pork and a little tomato sauce. A reasonable facsimile can be made by pulsing 1 cup of cooked bacon with a little bit of tomato sauce in a food processor.
Pupusas de Frijoles Refritos: With a refried bean filling.
Pupusas Revueltas: Use a mixture of chicharrones, cheese and refried beans.
Pupusas de Queso y Loroco: With a cheese and tropical vine flower filling.Loroco can be found in jars at many Latin markets.




Looks good!!! now i am really hungry, its a shame i cannot get the corn flour to do this at home. But i am working in find corn to make the traditional recipe like my ancestors.

now a video showing how to cook them!

Source:

http://www.whats4eats.com

Wikipedia

My self!