Tapado (Garifuna Seafood Stew)

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Tapado often contains a wide variety of seafood: squid, crab, shrimp, red snapper, sea bass, or even shark. If you have access to fresh, reasonably priced crab meat, add 1/2 pound of it to this dish!

Ingredients

•    1 tablespoon vegetable oil
•    1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced
•    2 cups coconut milk
•    1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
•    1/4 teaspoon ground achiote (annatto)
•    1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1/4 inch strips
•    1 1/2 pound fish filets (red snapper, sea bass or tilefish) cut in 2-inch pieces
•    1 pound medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
•    1/2 teaspoon salt
•    1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
•    1 medium plantain, peeled and chopped
•    1 medium tomato, diced
•    Salt and freshly ground black pepper
•    3 tablespoons minced cilantro leaves
•    Freshly grated coconut

Instructions

Pour the vegetable oil into a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and red pepper and saute until softened, about 1 minute.

Add the coconut milk, oregano and achiote and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer about 5 minutes, until it starts to thicken. Add the plantain, tomato and seafood and simmer just until the seafood is cooked, about 10 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Garnish with minced cilantro and freshly grated coconut and serve.

Pepian de Pollo

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Traditionally, this dish is made with poached chicken, but you can save time by using store-bought rotisserie chickens. Just make sure you buy chickens without any special flavoring; if that’s all you can find, try to remove all of the skin. You can use any kind of dried red chile for this recipe; anchos, guajillos, pasillas, whatever you have on hand. Look for ingredients like canela and masa harina in the Mexican foods section of your supermarket, at a Latin American grocery, or online. Serve the pepian with plenty of white rice and fresh corn tortillas.

Ingredients

•    6 plum tomatoes
•    8 tomatillos, husked and washed
•    1 medium onion, unpeeled
•    4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
•    1/2 cup sesame seeds
•    1/2 cup shelled pumpkin seeds
•    3 dried red chiles, stemmed and seeded
•    1 (2-inch piece) canela or Mexican cinnamon
•    8 whole cloves
•    3 whole allspice berries
•    2 tablespoons vegetable oil
•    6 cups chicken stock
•    2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
•    1/4 cup masa harina mixed with 1/2 cup water
•    2 large rotisserie chickens, cut into pieces
•    3 sprigs fresh cilantro

Instructions

In a large cast iron skillet, toast the tomatoes, tomatillos, onion and garlic until they are slightly blackened. Remove them from the pan and allow them to cool before peeling, coarsely chopping and adding to the blender.

In the skillet, toast the sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds and chiles until the sesame seeds are golden. Add the seeds and chiles to the blender.

Add the canela, cloves and allspice berries to the skillet and toast until aromatic. Add the spices to the blender and puree all of the ingredients together completely. Press the mixture through a sieve.

In a large enameled Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add the pureed mixture and fry for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and stir to combine. Add the chocolate and the masa harina mixture and stir again. Bring the mixture to a boil, add the chicken pieces, then reduce the heat and simmer about 20 minutes. Garnish with the cilantro.

Pork in Adobado Sauce

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Note that this delicious recipe requires advance preparation.

Ingredients

•    2 pounds tomatoes, halved and seeded
•    10 cloves garlic
•    1 medium onion
•    2 teaspoons red chile powder
•    Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
•    1 teaspoon ground cumin, or more, to taste
•    1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
•    1/4 teaspoon oregano
•    White vinegar, to taste
•    6 pork chops or beef steaks

Instructions

Preheat the broiler.

Arrange the tomatoes, garlic cloves and onion on baking sheet and broil 5 to 10 minutes, turning frequently, until the vegetables are softened and slightly charred around the edges. In a large bowl, combine the roasted vegetables with the rest of the ingredients, except the white vinegar.

Working in batches, process the mixture in a food processor. Do not puree, but pulse until the mixture resembles a thick, chunky sauce. Add the white vinegar to tasted.

Put the pork chops or beef steaks in a large, shallow dish and pour the sauce over them. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to three days, as they do in Guatemala.

One hour prior to serving, preheat a grill to high heat. Remove the meat from the sauce, wiping away any chunks and grill to your desired level of doneness.

Suban-Ick / meat

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This dish is wrapped in banana leaves, which give it a subtle, earthy flavor. Serve the dish with plain corn tamales, fresh corn tortillas or rice. It takes a bit of effort, but it produces enough for a party, so make this dish for a special occasion.

Ingredients

•    1/4 cup vegetable oil
•    2 1/2 pounds chicken pieces
•    1 pound country-style pork ribs
•    1 pound stew beef, cubed
•    1 package frozen banana leaves, thawed

Instructions

To make the meat, pour the oil into a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat and working in batches, sear the chicken, pork and beef. Remove them from the heat.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Wash and dry the banana leaves, then cut them in half lengthwise. In a very large clay pot or Dutch oven, arrange the leaves in the bottom of the pot, emanating in a fan pattern. Arrange the browned meats on the bed of leaves, then pour the blended sauce over the meat. Fold the banana leaves, one at a time, over the top of the meat. Anchor the leaves with a small plate, then cover the pot and bake for 1 hour.

Suban-Ick sauce

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‘This dish is wrapped in banana leaves, which give it a subtle, earthy flavor. Serve the dish with plain corn tamales, fresh corn tortillas or rice. ‘

Ingredients

•    3/4 cup water
•    30 plum tomatoes, halved
•    1 medium onion
•    1 large potato, peeled and quartered
•    1 large chayote squash, peeled and quartered
•    4 medium tomatillos, husked and chopped
•    6 red bell peppers, stemmed and seeded
•    2 cayenne chiles, seeds and stems removed
•    1 pasilla chile, seeds and stem removed
•    1 chile piquin, seeds and stem removed
•    1 guajillo chile, seeds and stem removed
•    3 chiltepin chiles (add more for extra heat)
•    3 bay leaves
•    2 sprigs fresh thyme
•    1/3 teaspoon powdered annatto seeds (achiote)
•    Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

To make the sauce, in a large pot over medium high heat, combine all of the ingredients except the annatto. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are cooked, about 30 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool. In a separate bowl, add just enough water to make a thick paste of the annatto powder then add that to the rest of the mix. Working in batches, blend in a food-processor and reserve.