Cuban Food Recipes - Side

Malanga or yam fritters (frituras de malanga o ñame)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Grate the malanga or yam and blend with the rest of the ingredients.

Take the batter by tablespoonfuls and deep fry in hot oil.

Green corn fritters (frituras de maíz tierno)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Blend the corn with the sugar, the salt and the beaten egg; add the aniseed slightly crushed.

Spoon this batter into hot oil and fry until golden brown.

Pork with navy beans (judías con cerdo)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Soak the navy beans for 2 hours; change the water and boil until tender; drain and keep the water they were cooked in.

In a pot, place alternate layers of navy beans and bacon.

Combine the rest of the ingredients with a cup of the water the beans were cooked in. Keep boiling.

Pour it all over the navy beans, the bacon and the onion and add more water until the pot fills. Cover and cook in the oven at 250ºF for approx. 7 or 8 hours.

Add more water if too dry. For the last hour, take the cover off the pot to let the surface brown.

Sandwich spread (pasta para bocaditos)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Combine all the ingredients and spread this mixture over soda crackers, toasts or buns.

Meat croquettes

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Lightly sauté the finely chopped onion in the butter, add the milk mixed with the flour, the salt and the pepper.

Cook this sauce until it reaches a double cream thickness and it’s possible to see the bottom of the pot when stirred with a spoon; remove it from the heat and add the dry wine or lemon and the meat stirring vigorously.

Let cool this thick paste and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Then take the paste by spoonfuls and shape it into croquettes, coat twice in beaten egg and breadcrumbs or ground crackers.

Leave the croquettes at room temperature for a while before deep frying until golden brown.

This recipe makes approx. 20 middle sized croquettes or 40 small ones for serving at parties or as appetizers.

Yuca with mojo (Yuca con mojo)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

In a large saucepan, cover yuca with water plus 2 inches, add salt. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, cover, let simmer until yuca is fork tender but still intact. Drain yuca.

Add the mojo.

Breaded beef cutlet or Escalope (Bistec empanizado)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Slice the meat into 6 steaks, pound them and make small cuts along the edge to avoid shrinking at the time of frying.

Marinate with the crushed garlic, the salt, the pepper, the onion and the Seville orange (or any other acid listed above), cover and refrigerate for an hour or overnight.

Before cooking, roll the steaks in egg and breadcrumbs or ground crackers until coated; fry in hot oil until golden brown.

Fried Sweet Potato (boniatos fritos)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Peel the sweet potato and cut it into slices approximately half an inch thick. Fry them at about 365ºF until they begin to turn golden, approx. 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Just before serving, fry again at 390ºF until golden brown. Sprinkle with sugar.

Potato chips (chicharritas de papa)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Peel the vegetable and cut it into very thin slices. Fry in hot oil until golden brown. Sprinkle with salt at the time of serving. If you wish to store them to serve at another time, put them in a jar or can, but without salt.

Sweet potato chips (chicharritas de boniato)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Green plantain chips (mariquitas)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Cassava bread (casabe)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Peel, wash and grate the cassava. Let it drain in a strainer. Press very heavily to take all the juice out. To press it, a press may be used until all the juice, which is poisonous and used to make cassava starch, comes out.

Over a griddle pour an amount of cassava paste enough to cover it. Stretch the paste with a wooden spatula to make a layer about 3 mm. thick, filling in where necessary. Cook until the cassava flour paste agglutinates or hardens, folding and squeezing the edge with the spatula (about 1 cm. ) to make it stronger and easier to handle.

Cook until it begins to look golden and it’s possible to turn it easily and it’s completely hardened and easy to handle. In the popular way of making cassava bread, the cakes are then placed next to the fire, supported by wooden sticks, to let them get completely dry.

Finally take the breads out into the sun to dry up and prevent them from becoming moldy.

Marinade or mojo (mojo)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Crush the garlic along with the dry spices until the mix becomes almost a paste. Add the onion chopped or sliced into thin rings and the Seville orange or grapefruit juice.

Congrí rice (Arroz Congrí)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Wash the black beans, previously picked, and place them over the fire in a pressure cooker with plenty of water, covering the beans completely, put on the pressure valve and leave for 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool, uncover the pot and make sure the grains are tender. Separate the grains from the stock and put the stock aside. Let cool the bean grains.

Put the onion and garlic finely chopped, the peppers cut into thin strips and the oregano into a pot and sauté in hot oil until the onion is golden. Add the bean stock, the grains, the rice, the bay leaf and the salt. Cover.

Place the pot over medium heat until it comes to a boil, stir to prevent from sticking to the bottom of the pot, and keep cooking over low heat, until the rice looks completely dry. This process of drying the rice should take from 10 to 15 minutes. Stir again, remove from heat and let cool before serving.

Chatinos or fried green plantains

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Cooking instructions:

Peel and slice the plantains into 3 cm. thick pieces. Toss into the frying pan with cold oil and cook until slightly golden. Let cool.

Crush wrapped in the skin of the plantain or in a thick paper.

At the time of serving, fry again in hot oil.

Sprinkle with salt before serving.