In honor of Hince Hispanic Heritage month, here are 3-course traditional meals and recipes traditional to Central and South America. These meals are spread throughout the world keeping the culture alive.
Starting with breakfast, one of the most famous delicious foods Hispanic people start their day with is called “Tajadas”. Tajadas are fried ripe plantains that can be eaten as a side dish with rice, as a breakfast, dessert, or with main dishes like fried chicken or pig. In numerous nations, such as Colombia, Honduras, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, fried plantains are a popular Hispanic dish. Sweet plantains are referred to as “platanos maduros” in Cuba. Utilizing ripe plantains is essential when cooking tajadas. Although green plantains are a common cuisine in Latin America and the Caribbean, they must be matured until the skin becomes black before being used to produce this sweet dish. The flesh of the plantain gets softer and sweeter as it ripens, and when diagonally, it makes the long and iconic slices for these traditional tajadas.
In the afternoon, when it’s time for lunch, a popular seafood dish in Latin America’s Pacific coastal nations includes ceviche, which is served in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and other countries. Ceviche is a light, sweet-savory dish made from fresh, uncooked fish, citrus juice, chopped onions, salt, and cilantro. Local changes in ceviche recipes might be found. Shrimp may be a component in this Hispanic dish, or it may take the shape of a ceviche “cocktail,” which is a favorite in Mexico. A popular Veracruzan dish called “Vuelve a La Vida” is a ceviche drink made of oysters, octopus, fish, clams, and any other seafood at hand. Cocktail glasses are typically used for serving ceviche drinks to make it easier to eat and more fancier looking, which may include tostadas and avocado. “ I like most people usually let the shrimp cook in the lime juice but some people cook them in a pan with either oil or butter because they are too scared that the lime juice won’t properly cook the shrimp. If you cook it with lime juice you just have to wait until the shrimp turns a pinkish color and that’s when you know it’s fully cooked. Once it turns into a pinkish color I end the dish off with slices of avocados and red onions.”- Vanessa Cardenas
At the end of the day, a great Hispanic dinner dish is Mole. Mexican chili sauce known as mole is frequently used to top chicken, fish, or turkey. Although it can be created in a variety of ways, it is always made with fruit, chili peppers, herbs, spices, and most of the time chocolate (such as garlic, cumin, coriander, anise, and cloves). Although making mole might take some time because the meat has to soak up the chocolate sauce, the delicious taste of chocolatey and savory flavor makes it certainly worth the effort! The popular dish mole poblano has a significant amount of mole sauce, which is pronounced “mow-lay”. The name mole, which means “sauce” in English, comes from the Nahuatl language, which was used by the Aztecs and is still spoken in some regions of Mexico.
A few hours later into the day, while the average hispanic family wants to sit down and relax, for dessert is a delicious custard dish called Flan. Flan is a custard with a gelatin-like consistency. Flan is also known as”creme caramel” and “pudim” (Portuguese). In general, eggs, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, vanilla extract, and sugar are used to make flan, which is also a baked dessert.. A Spanish flan might have a layer of caramelized sugar on the bottom, while a Mexican flan might be covered in dulce de leche, a sweet caramel syrup. This well-known dish has roots that date back to the Roman Empire. Multiple versions of the custard were popularized throughout Europe, and Spanish conquistadors introduced the recipe to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
These Hispanic dishes are a part of peoples cultures and have been passed down for generations. People all over the world have their own interests on these foods, and add their own twist to the meals. These dishes have been spread throughout the whole world and have grown in traditions, family dinners, and not only for special occasions.
