Tag: appetizer
Chifrijo
Chifrijo
Chifrijo is a popular Costa Rican bar snack consisting roasted and fried pork belly over black beans and rice. It’s topped with pico de gallo, diced avocado, and salsa Lizano. Even better, it is scooped up with tortilla chips. This recipe has a lot of steps; all which are fairly easy. When preparing for a recipe that has multiple things going on at once like Chifrijo, the best thing you can do is first gather all of the ingredients for each thing you are making. This will cut down time running back and forth looking for things. Know how long it will take to make what you’re cooking. In the chifrijo’s case, the pork belly takes the longest: 100 minutes for roasting and 5 minutes for frying. While the belly is roasting, you can prepare the beans, rice, and pico de gallo. Lastly, but also firstly: pack a bowl and relax.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Pork Belly
- 2 lbs pork belly
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- cracked black pepper
- vegetable oil for frying
Pico de Gallo
- 2 medium tomatoes diced
- 1/4 large white onion diced
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 jalapeño diced
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 lime juiced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
Costa Rican Black Beans
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 stalk celery finely diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tbsp Salsa Lizano
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 14 oz canned black beans with it’s juices
The Rest
- 2 cups white rice steamed
- 1 avocado diced
- tortilla chips
- Salsa Lizano
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Season the pork belly with soy sauce and cracked black pepper. Place the pork belly on a rack on a baking sheet lined in foil. Poor some water in the bottom of the pan.
- Roast the pork belly for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to 325 degrees. Roast for 90 minutes. Let cool completely.
- Chop into bite size pieces.
- Heat up 1/4” deep of vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Fry the pork belly until it is browned, about 4-5 minutes.
- Drain on paper towel.
- While the pork belly is roasting, combine all of the pico de gallo ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate until ready for use.
- Also, while the pork belly is roasting, heat up olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Sauté the the celery and garlic for 5 minutes.
- Add in the cumin, salsa Lizano, and black beans.
- Cover and simmer over medium low heat for 20 minutes.
Assembly
- Place a scoop of rice in the center of a bowl. Scoop a ladle of beans over the rice. Place a scoop of the fried pork belly in the center. Distribute a scoop of pico de gallo over the pork belly. Add some diced avocado. Drizzle some more salsa Lizano. Serve with tortilla chips.
Stuffed Sweet Peppers
Stuffed Sweet Peppers
I really like mini sweet peppers. They are even better stuffed with pork. This Vietnamese appetizer only takes 15 minutes of prep work and 15 minutes baking time. The dipping sauce is very basic, but has the perfect balance of sweet, sour, and spicy, plus the umami from the fish sauce.
Ingredients
- mini sweet peppers cut in half
Pork Filling
- 1 lb ground pork
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
Nuac Cham Dipping Sauce
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/8 up fish sauce
- 5 garlic cloves chopped
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- 2 birds eye chilies finely diced; or 1 tbsp crushed red pepper
Instructions
- Mix all of the pork stuffing ingredients together.
- Take a little bit of the pork and stuffed it in the halved sweet pepper.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle a little olive oil on a baking sheet. Place all of the stuffed peppers on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Let rest before serving.
- While the stuffed peppers are resting, dissolve the sugar into the water in a small pot. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Let cool.
Moo Manoa (Garlic Lime Pork)
Moo Manoa (Garlic Lime Pork)
This garlic lime pork has all of the complexities of Thai food: sweet, salty, sour, and spicy. Pork is the traditional protein used in this dish, but you can use beef, chicken, or shrimp. This recipe is fairly healthy and easy to make. You can eat moo manoa as an appetizer or main course. This can be eaten not just as a salad. Why couldn’t pork go into a taco and the cabbage be tossed with the mint and dressing, topping the taco? Why not put the pork on a toasted baguette with the same cabbage and mint salad? Smoke deeper and expand your mind.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- mortar and pestle
Ingredients
- 1 lb pork sirloin sliced less than 1/4” thick
- 6 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 cups cabbage shredded
Dressing
- 6 garlic cloves
- 4 Thai chilies 2 red, 2 green
- 3 tbsp palm sugar chopped
- 6 tbsp lime juice
- 4 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp cilantro chopped
Garnish
- mint leaves roughly torn
Instructions
Velveting the Pork
- Mix together the water, cornstarch, soy sauce, and vegetable oil.
- Add in the sliced pork and marinate for 20 minutes.
- Bring a pot of water to a hard boil. Drop in the pork and cook for just 30 seconds.
- Scoop out and set aside.
Dressing
- Pound the garlic, chilies, and palm sugar to a paste in a mortar and pestle.
- Add in the lime juice and fish sauce. Keep pounding.
- Stir in the cilantro.
Assembly
- Top the shredded cabbage with the pork. Spoon the dressing over the pork. Garnish with mints leaves.
