Tag: appetizer
Arepas
Arepas
Arepas are a very important part of Colombian cuisine, comparable to tortillas in Mexico. They are practically eaten every day in their various forms for breakfast, lunch or dinner, as a snack, an appetizer, a side, or even as a main course. They are simply fried corn cakes that can be stuffed or topped with pretty much anything. There’s really no wrong to making these.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups masa flour
- 1/2 cup corn meal
- 1/2 tsp salt
- warm water
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
- Mix all of the dry ingredients together. Add enough warm water to form a dough similar to the consistency of firm mashed potatoes.
- Form a ball of the dough a little larger than a golf ball. Place it on a tortilla press.
- Make sure to have it cover by wax paper or plastic wrap.
- Press it down to 1/4” thick.
- Heat up cooking oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add in an arepa.
- Cook for 2 minutes a side.
Arepas de Rellenos Queso
Arepas de rellenos queso is stuffed with mozzarella cheese and is fried for an extra 2 minutes a side, allowing the cheese to melt. Top it off with a little hogao sauce and cilantro. This is similar to a grilled cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 arepa corn cake
- 2 slices mozzerella
- 2 tbsp hogao sauce
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Cut your arepa in half; like you would an english muffin.
- Put 2 slices of mozzarella inside.
- Add it back into the pan. Cook for another 2 minutes a side until the cheese is melted.
- Top with hogao sauce and cilantro.
Arepa con Camarones y Hogao
This arepa is topped with shrimp cooked in hogao sauce; garnished with diced avocado and pickled red onion.
Ingredients
- 1 arepa
- 1/4 cup hogao sauce
- 4 shrimp cooked
- avocado diced
- pickled red onion diced
Instructions
- Heat up a 1/4 cup of hogao sauce with 4 shrimp for 2 minutes. Op the arepa with the sauce, shrimp, diced avocado, and pickled red onion.
Arepas con Pollo y Aguacate
This type of arepa is topped with a simple chicken salad and slices of avocado. While the arepa is hot, the chicken salad is cold.
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs or breast
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup white onion diced
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp cilantro chopped
- avocado sliced
- arepas
Instructions
- Season chicken with paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
- Let cool.
- Chop up the chicken. Mix with the mayo, onion, sugar, lime juice, and cilantro.
- Top an arepa with the chicken salad. Top with avocado slices and chopped cilantro
Chicharrón and Bean Arepas
This arepa is topped with refried beans and pork belly. In this recipe, I happened to have leftover white, red, and garbanzo beans. The beans got fried in rendered fat from the pork belly and mashed together with diced Chicharrón.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp lard
- 1 cup beans pinto, kidney, Black, white, or garbanzo
- 1/4 cup Chicharrón finely chopped
- 2 slices chicharron
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp water
- white onion thinly sliced
- cilantro chopped
- arepas
Instructions
- Finely dice a 1/4 cup of Chicharrón.
- Heat up lard in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the Chicharrón for 2 minutes.
- Add in the beans, salt, cumin, and water. Start mashing the beans.
- The beans should be smooth with little chunks of fried Chicharrón. Add more water if too thick.
- Top an arepa with 2 heaping tbsp of the beans. Add 2 slices of pork belly to the beans. Garnish with thinly sliced white onion and cilantro.
Peruvian Ceviche
Peruvian Ceviche
Ceviche is the national dish of Peru, dating back more than 2000 years. Raw fish is marinated in lemon, lime, and orange juices with red onion, hot peppers, and cilantro. The acidity from the citrus juices “cooks” the fish. While you see ceviche being served with tortilla chips in the U.S., it is traditionally served in Peru with potatoes, corn, lettuce, avocado, or sweet potatoes.There are couple routes you can go when choosing the right fish. You want to use a firm fleshed salt water white fish such as snapper, albacore tuna, sole, or halibut. Make sure that all skin and bones have been removed. If there is any bloodline on the fillets, they need to be removed as well or your ceviche will have an overly fishy taste. The pieces of fish should be cut fairly small or they will have to marinate longer. 1” pieces or smaller is perfect. The fish will need to marinate for at least 2 hours before serving.The big question is should you use fresh or frozen fish? Here are the pros and cons. Fresh fish is always going to taste the best, no question about it. The minimally slight risk is that the acidity of the citrus juices doesn’t kill any parisites if for some reason the fish had some. The pros to using frozen fish is that the flash freezing process actually kills parasites in fish. So your best option is to use the highest quality fish you can find, as close to sushi grade as you can find. My friends at Coastal Seafood recommended that I try their frozen red snapper, which ended up being of exceptional quality.
Ingredients
- 1 lb firm fleshed white fish
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/2 medium red onion thinly sliced
- 1 serrano pepper thinly sliced
- 1 cup lime juice
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Wash your fish fillet. I’m using red snapper for the ceviche.
- Cut into small cubes, no larger then an inch.
- Squeeze fresh lime, lemon and orange juices in a bowl. Add in the onion and Serrano pepper.
- Add in the snapper and salt. Let marinate for 2 hours.
- Garnish with cilantro.
Salt and Pepper Chicken
Salt and Pepper Chicken
Salt and pepper chicken is a very common appetizer found in Chinese restaurants. You may even see many other menu items with the salt and pepper name: shrimp, squid, chicken wings, and even tofu. The protein is marinated in a simple garlic/ginger/brown sugar marinade, then dredged in cornstarch. It is then fried then seasoned with a salt and pepper spice mix and garnished with fried basil leaves. That easy.
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts cut into 1 1/2” cubes
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 12 large basil leaves
Marinade
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 3 tsp ginger minced
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
Spice Mix
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp five spice powder
Instructions
- Mix together the marinade ingredients. Add the chicken and marinate for 15 minutes.
- Add the ban egg to the chicken. Mix thoroughly. Then add in the cornstarch, making sure that all of the pieces are evenly coated.
- Add the cooking oil to a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Cook the chicken pieces for 4 minutes a side.
- When the chicken is done frying, remove any excess fried bits from the oil by scooping them out with a slotted spoon. Add in basil leaves and fry for 1 minute.
- Season the chicken with the spice mix. Toss with the fried basil leaves.
