Corn Chowder

This is a great comfort food when you need subtle favours and a heartwarming dish. If you live in a country that has fresh corn readily available I would suggest using corn on the cob to bring a bit more flavour to this dish.

Ingredients

• 1 stalk celery
• 1 medium onion
• olive oil
• ½ teaspoon fresh or dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 cups of whole milk
• 1 cup of veg stock
• 1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cut into little cubes
• 3 spring onions
• 2 cups frozen corn
• ¼ cup chopped,  parsley

Method

Finely Chop the celery and onion. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Add the celery, onion, and thyme. Stir until the vegetables start to brown. 

Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and stir for a few more minutes. Pour in the milk and stock, add the potato and bring to a boil, stirring the whole time so the soup doesn't stick to the pot. Cook until the potatoes are tender, but not mushy – this will take around 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, trim the ends off the spring onions and slice them thinly. When the potatoes are tender, stir in the corn and spring onion. Bring the soup back to the boil, then serve seasoning with plenty of salt and pepper. 

Caldo de Res: Guatemalan Beef Stew

 One thing to note with ‘caldos’ (stews in English) is the Guatemalan obsession of cooking their vegetables whole. Why waste all that time chopping veduras into bite-sized chunks when you can cook them in their entirety? This nutritious Guatemalan ‘caldo’ is available in most comedores or mercados but tastes even better homemade, especially if you just got your fresh produce from domingos organicos. Huisquil (a hard round veg with a green prickly skin) love it or hate it tastes at its best in any kind of caldo so if you’ve got one lurking at the back of your cupboard and you have no idea what to do with it, this may just be the recipe for you!

I’m never too sure which cuts of beef to ask for; I’m told Costilla de res o hueso de paloma work well for this recipe but if you tell the butcher which dish you’re preparing they usually know which cut is best to use. You ideally want beef sold on the bone in order to make a really tasty stock; if not you’ll need to add a stock cube to give it some extra flavour.

The vegetables and quantities listed below are just a suggestion, add whatever is available to you.

Should serve 4-5 people

·       1 pound of a whole cut of beef

·       Oil for browning the beef

·       1 small tomato with an ‘x’ cut in one end

·       1 small onion peeled with ‘x’ cut in one end

·       2 whole celery stalks (apio)

·       1 red chile pimiento, seeds removed and halved

·       1 yuca root, peeled and cut into chunks. If you can’t find yuca a couple of piece of calabaza or ayote works equally well thrown in with the skin on

·       2 whole carrots, peeled

·       1 huisquil, peeled, cutting out the core and quartered

·       2 corn on the cobs broken into halves

·       ½ a small head cabbage, quartered

·       4 whole small potatoes, peeled

·        

la salsa:

·       4-5 chiltepe chiles (the tiny green ones)

·       ½ a diced onion

·       About half a quetzal of chopped cilantro

·       jugo of 1 lime

Preparation

1.Cut the beef into portions, roughly one per person and leaving the bone attached to some of the meat. If this is difficult, cook the cut whole and divide up when ready to serve.

2. Heat some oil in a large pot or pressure cooker (without using the lid), add the beef and begin to brown turning frequently to cook on every side.

3. When the beef is almost browned add all the vegetables.

4. Add enough water to almost cover the vegetables; don’t be afraid to add more water later if it needs it. Cover the pan and cook on high heat to bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to low, add plenty of salt and pepper and the stock cube should you need it. Simmer until the beef is tender and the vegetables are cooked.

For the Salsa (for those that like it hot)

6.Toast the chiltepes until brown on every side, this is traditionally done on a comal but can be done in a frying pan without any oil, careful they don’t jump out and burn you! Put them into a chirmolera (they’re about Q15 or less in the market but every ligit host family should have one) if not use the back of a heavy cooking utensil to grind them up a little.
7. Add the diced onion to the chiltepe, the washed and chopped cilantro, and the limejuice. Mash briefly and set aside.

8. When the caldo is ready, serve in big bowls dividing up the meat and veg fairly with plenty of tortillas (black are always my preference) with the bowl of salsa and a plate of chopped lime slices and a couple of avocados quartered for the truly chapin experience.

Platanos en Gloria

If there’s one piece of fresh fruit you’re guaranteed to find in any ‘tiendita’ it’s a plantain, or ‘platano’ and contrary to what you might think the blacker their skin is the more delicious and ripe the taste. So, should you been persuaded into buying the 5 por Q5 deal outside of the demo or you cannot take any more fried plantain for breakfast, here’s a no nonsense dessert that will satisfy those of you who have a very sweet tooth when even a fresh mango wont cut it. 

I haven’t seen this served so often on the street but honestly it’s the most delicious when cooked at home and served fresh. A simple dish to indulge in when fresh fruit just wont cut it.

4 plantain (it roughly works out one per person)

one cup of orange juice (a bag from the lady on the corner would be ideal)

10-15 cloves

tbs of butter o magarina

1 teaspoon of oil

2 ramitas of canela

honey

Instructions

1.    fry a large tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan. You can use margarina but butter tastes better if you can splash out

2.    when the butter’s melted add the whole peeled plantain. Stick 2-3 cloves into the flesh of the plantain and break the two canela sticks in half and add to the pan so the spices infuse with the butter and start to brown the platano over a low heat, turning over occasionally to fry on all sides, this show take around 10 minutes.

3.    Once lightly brown on every side take out of the oil and sit on some kitchen paper to drain a little, leave for a couple of minutes.

4.    Chop up the plantain into slices as thick as you would like(not too thin)

5.    Turn the heat on and add the slices to the oil. Pour over the juice, a good dollop of honey (more if you like it super sweet) and fry the slices for another 5-10 minutes, browning a little on both sides and pouring over some of the juice when turning to get the flavor.

6.    The sauce will become a nice caramel-like sauce

7.    When cook, turn the heat off, leave to sit for a minute or two and serve on plates with a dollop of cream, sprinkle of canela powder and spoon over the sauce.

SRefined sugar free and made with fresh OJ and fruit, what else could possibly justify such indulgence?

Grilled Mackerel with a Sweet Soy Glaze

• 4 mackerel fillets 
• zest and juice 1 lime, plus extra wedges to serve
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• butter, for greasing
• steamed baby bok choi or spinach to serve

For the sauce

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and cut into matchsticks
• juice 1 lime
• thumb-sized piece ginger, grated
• 2 tbsp muscovado sugar
• Half a red pepper finely sliced

1. Score the mackerel fillets a couple of times on the skin, then lay them in a shallow dish ready for grilling. Sprinkle with the lime zest and juice, and leave to marinate for 5-10 mins.
2. Place all of the sauce ingredients and the red pepper and spinach in a small pan with a splash of water and gradually bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 mins to thicken slightly, cook for another  then remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Turn the grill to its highest setting and place the mackerel on a greased baking tray, skin side up. Sprinkle the fillets with the olive oil and some sea salt, then grill for 5 mins until the flesh is opaque and cooked through.
4.  lay mackerel fillets on  a plate, drizzle with the sauce and serve with a wedge of lime and rice.

Guacamole

 The key to good guacamole is a using the best avocados. They say that if a woman can choose a right avocado they will pick a good husband; I am yet to be convinced by this theory. As extranjeros we are often given the worst avocadoes in the market. Check each one well for bruises and ripeness. Don’t be afraid to ask to change them if you’re not happy. If you find a good vendedora de aguacate, stick with them.

Finely dice one small onion and leave to sit in the juice of one lime to soften the taste. Add the other half of the cilantro- chopped, and half a diced jalapeño depending on how hot you like it. Dice two tomatoes and add to the mixture. Leave to sit for 5-10 minutes. Making sure the avocados are ripe, scrap out the contents of 3 avocados and another lime with plenty of salt. Add the mashed avocados to the tomato mixture and stir together. Try and make the dip as late as possible for freshness but a great truco (trick) to stop the guacamole from browning is to add one or two avocado stones to the dip– this really works!

Pico de Gallo

Why is pico de gallo called pico de gallo you may ask? There are many theories. The direct translation is ‘beak of the cockerel’. Some say it’s because of the dip’s vibrant colors while others say it’s because the chopped vegetables look like they have been picked at by hens. I thought it was had something to do with the ‘picante’ involved but I’ll let you come to your own conclusions.

Ingredients

1.5 libras (pounds) of tomatoes from the market, washed

1 large onion

2-3 limes

1 Quetzal of cilantro (washed)

1 jalapeño chili (optional)

I tablespoon of salsa inglesa (Guatemala’s very own version of Worcestershire sauce)

Instructions

1.    Start by peeling and finely dicing the onion. Place in a medium size bowl and add the juice of one of the limes, mix well and put to one side

2.    Finely chop the jalapeño (removing seeds) and add to the onion. If you don’t like it hot just use about half or leave it out completely

3.    Using about half of the cilantro bunch, take the leaves off the stalks, finely chop and add to the bowl with the onion

4.    Dice and add the tomatoes, squeeze over the juice of another lime, add the salsa inglesa (this is the special twist you may or may not want to share with people), and a large pinch of salt to season. Mix well

5.    Taste for seasoning adding more salsa inglesa, lime juice or salt as needed. Getting a cuate Chapín (Guatemalan friend) to help at this point is advisable to ensure the salsa has acceptably high levels of salt.