Latin American Recipes
67 recipes found
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20230906-SEA-PinaColada-TwoBites-05-f9bdbe04d71447cea1822fe11fdf703e.jpg)
This Frozen Drink Tastes Like the Tropical Vacation We All Need
A guide to making the very best piña colada.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__recipes__images__2011__11__20111201-127677-Dulces-Rompope-PRIMARY-1a9805698a714eaa882d5bcde21a9888.jpg)
Rompope (Mexican Eggnog)
Rompope—an eggnog-like combination of milk, egg, spice, and liquor served during the holidays in Mexico—was reportedly created by nuns in the 17th century.
Arroz con Leche With Roasted Pineapple
With a touch of coconut, broiled pineapple and bright-red pomegranate seeds, this is a festive dessert. Many rice pudding recipes call for a custard, but this one just calls for simmering short-grain rice in sweetened milk — it may make you think of Thai coconut sticky rice. Serve it warm to cap a meal, and keep some for the next day. Leftovers make a fine breakfast.
Peruvian Roasted Chicken With Spicy Cilantro Sauce
Burnished-skinned, deeply flavored and more than just a little spicy, it’s no wonder that Peruvian chicken has become something of an obsession here in the United States. There are dozens of way to make this dish, but most recipes call for two different kinds of Peruvian chile pastes — aji amarillo and aji panca — to add the necessary complexity and heat. You can find them at South American markets and online. But in a pinch, you can substitute a red chile paste (like sriracha or sambal) for the aji amarillo, and ground pasilla chile powder for the aji panca. The flavors won’t be traditional, but the chicken will still be tasty — especially when slathered with the irresistibly creamy, spicy cilantro sauce that goes alongside.
Alfajores
Popular all over Latin America, dulce de leche confections called alfajores come in many varieties. In this popular version, delicate, crumbly butter cookies are sandwiched with a thick layer of dulce de leche before being rolled in coconut. They are petite yet decadent morsels that go particularly well with strong black coffee to cut their creamy richness. You can make the dulce de leche a week ahead (store it in the refrigerator) and the cookies 5 days ahead (store them in an airtight container at room temperature). Once sandwiched together, the cookies will keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 3 days, but are best eaten within 24 hours of filling.
Chicken Stew With Sweet Plantains
Made on a Saturday afternoon, this accessible chicken stew (inspired by the dish mofongo) could deliver delicious Sunday sustenance from 11 a.m. onward.
Pierre Franey's Guacamole
Seis Leches Cake
This recipe for a tres leches cake (a traditional syrup-soaked confection from Latin America) takes a good thing — namely the combination of milks that saturate its crumb — and doubles it. Instead of just the usual three milks (sweetened condensed, evaporated and heavy cream), it calls for six, adding coconut milk, condensed coconut milk and dulce de leche. Like the original version, it’s a dense, puddinglike cake flavored with cinnamon and rum. But here, notes of coconut and caramel lend complexity and even more richness. Serve this in small squares, preferably with a bitter espresso or some tea to sip between syrupy bites.
One-Pot Rice and Beans
Not only is rice with beans adored the world over (see: gallo pinto, khichdi, hoppin’ John and Caribbean rice and peas), it even has its own Wikipedia page. This deeply flavored rendition is inspired by these comforting traditions and a desire to wash as few dishes as possible: The rice cooks with the beans and the starchy liquid they’re canned in. As the two ingredients cook together, the beans disperse and glom onto the rice. For an extra kick, sauté chopped jalapeño with the onions, or add 1/4 cup salsa with the stock.
Adobo Roasted Potatoes
Using a classic Puerto Rican adobo seasoning — an island staple blend of garlic powder, oregano and black pepper — this recipe yields simple, savory roasted potatoes. They pair well with grilled meat and seafood, or make for a flavorful addition to any vegetable plate. The seasoning mix can be doubled or tripled (or more), with the rest stored in the pantry as an all-purpose seasoning, as it’s often used in Puerto Rican cooking to add instant flavor to stewed meats, beans and more. Roasted potatoes will keep for at least a week in the fridge, so make a big batch to snack on, add them to salads and soups, or smash and fry them for breakfast home fries.
Green Tomato Salsa Verde
Mexican salsa verde usually is made with tomatillos, not green tomatoes. (Tomatillos are in the same family as green tomatoes, but more closely related to the gooseberry.) But this version is a beautiful and delicious salsa, even without tomatillos.
Yellow Rice
Yellow rice is a beloved dish among many cultural traditions. A staple side in Latin American kitchens, arroz amarillo appears in various iterations across the region. The appeal of yellow rice extends to Central and South Asia, and South Africa, and its brilliant hue achieved with saffron, turmeric or achiote. This version uses widely available and economical ground turmeric, and is a canvas upon which you can incorporate other ingredients and spices. Consider adding a bell pepper to the onion and garlic, or stir in a cup of frozen peas at the very end. The amount of cooking liquid you use depends on the type and quality of your rice, and be mindful to cut down on salt if you use a salted broth. Typically served as a side dish, the dish can also be served on its own.
Arroz con Pollo
Ubiquitous throughout Latin America and beyond, arroz con pollo can be as simple or as complex as your ingredients allow. The key is to layer flavor, adding dimension as you go. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are preferred, but bone-in will also work well. (Chicken breasts lack the same amount of fat and flavor, so they are not recommended here.) Watch the rice carefully as it cooks, absorbing the liquid, as pots and stoves vary greatly. If it starts to smell a little burned, reduce the heat, toss and put the lid on the pot. But don’t worry, as this aroma can be part of creating the coveted pegao, a layer of toasted rice that develops on the bottom of the pan and sticks to it, similar to Persian tahdig, Spanish socarrat or Senegalese xoon.
Caldo de Costilla (Colombian Beef Rib Soup)
This hearty soup from the Colombian Andes uses a handful of ingredients and takes only a few minutes of active time to put together. It’s traditionally served for breakfast (especially after a night of dancing and drinking) along with hot chocolate and arepas, but it’s hearty enough to serve for any meal. Because of its relatively neutral flavor profile, it’s good to make in large batches (the beef broth can easily be doubled or tripled through Step 4) to be doctored into different dishes (see Tip).
Chilean Cabbage and Avocado Slaw
Coleslaw meets guacamole here in this utterly simple mix of shredded cabbage, salt, lemon, and puréed avocado. The chef Iliana de la Vega, who was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, served it at a delicious Latin-themed lunch she prepared at the “Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives” conference this year at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley. I couldn’t get enough of it. I sat with Iliana at the lunch and asked her about the salad. “Just salt the cabbage, let it sit for a while, then add lots of lemon juice and the mashed avocado,” she said. That really is all there is to it. Shred the cabbage thin and for best results let it sit, after salting generously, for an hour or more, to tenderize it and draw out strong-tasting juices.
Walnut Picadillo
Picadillo is a dish that spans Latin American and Filipino food cultures with ingredients that vary from country to region. It’s a simple dish that highlights ground meat with bold flavors from tomato, onion, garlic, olives and capers, and is often paired with starches like potatoes and rice for a filling main dish, or even a taco filling. In this plant-based version, ground walnuts take on a meaty texture that absorbs all the bold flavors of a picadillo. Using a food processor is the best — and fastest — way to make sure the walnuts are evenly minced.
Stuffed Flank Steak (Matambre)
Matambre is a contraction of the Spanish words for "kill" and "hunger" -- it's the hunger killer. It's beef traditionally stuffed with vegetables, herbs, hard-cooked egg and seasonings. I cannot abide hard-boiled egg in cooked meat dishes, so I've substituted olives. It is often served as a kind of cold cut in Argentina, where it was created, but it can also be served hot.
Pico De Gallo
The strong flavors of scallions, cilantro and jalapeño complement the sweet juiciness of summer tomatoes in this traditional salsa. It makes the perfect accompaniment to grilled steak or tortilla chips.
Arroz con Gandules (Puerto Rican Rice With Pigeon Peas)
Every step and ingredient adds something important to this recipe from the Puerto Rican-born chef and writer Reina Gascón-López. Annatto seeds steeped in oil give the rice its signature marigold hue. The banana leaf imparts a subtle tropical aroma to the rice as it cooks. Olives, ham, beer and peppers with their brine offer salt, fat, acid, umami and a bright pop of color. The sheer number of flavors layered into this dish make it a delight to unpack. The most exhilarating layer is the last one: pegao, the crisp, glassy shards of rice at the bottom of the pot. Gandules (pigeon peas) make this version of rice and beans distinctly Caribbean. Ms. Gascón-López prefers to start with dry gandules, which her family sometimes ships to her from Puerto Rico, then flavors the pot with some sofrito, a bay leaf or two and a smoked pork neck. If you have trouble finding dry pigeon peas, they are often labeled as toor at Indian grocery stores.
5 Ninth's Cubano
The chef Zak Pelaccio went deep on the ubiquitous Cubano, and came up with this voluptuous, assertive sandwich of velvet-tender pork, salty cheese and crunchy, fiery bites of pickled jalapeño. It takes some time to make and assemble all the ingredients, but a fair amount of it can be done ahead of time and the result, served for a weekend dinner or afternoon feast, is deeply complex and endlessly delicious.
Grand Flanero's Pumpkin Flan
Lentil Soup With Cilantro (Lots of It)
This easy lentil soup is seasoned with cumin and an entire bunch of chopped cilantro, stirred in just before serving.
Pasteles
Most of the components for pasteles, a traditional Puerto Rican holiday dish, can be made a day or two in advance, then brought to room temperature for assembly. You can prepare the masa ahead, and freeze it for up to several months. Pasteles can also be cooked right away, refrigerated for a few days or frozen in zip-top containers for several months. Some use only green bananas or green plantains – which are unripe, firm and very green – for the masa; some add potatoes or pumpkin; some add yuca, also known as cassava, and others use only yuca. If you can’t find one or more ingredients, use what you can find. Lucy Ramirez adds pork gravy to the masa (other cooks may add milk or oil) and makes sure there’s a little pork in every bite of the pastel. Traditionally, pasteles were fully wrapped in banana or plantain leaves before being wrapped in parchment paper or foil. Today, many cooks use a piece or strip of banana leaf to give each pastel the nutty flavor of the leaf. Serve them with a side of hot sauce or ketchup. Click here to learn how to assemble the pasteles.
Smoky Pork Shoulder With Chile Paste
A well-seasoned, chile-paste-slathered pork shoulder is already going to win, no matter what you do to it. Which seems to me like the ideal reason to try a new technique: slow roasting, off-flame, with ambient heat, using your outdoor grill as a coal-fired oven in the off-season of dead winter. Even if your live coals snuff out, or smoke too heavily, or you get bored of the snow-muffled silence or feel lonely in the winter solitude of your backyard, even if you miscalculate sunset and find yourself in the dark with a cellphone flashlight trying to read the internal temperature of the meat to discover it’s still raw in the center — all you have to do is close up shop out back, come inside and shove the thing in your conventional oven and then read the newspaper until dinner.