Dominican Heat

Carrot rice!

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Arturo Féliz-Camilo

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hello friends and fellow foodies!

Some time ago I shared a true marvel of Dominican cooking: pumpkin rice. As I was preparing this dish, I could hardly hold myself and had to add a bit of pumpkin too. So, in a way, while the main ingredient today is carrots, it is a sort of pumpkin rice variation.

Enjoy!

carrot rice

Ingredients

2 cups white rice.
2 lbs. carrots (peeled and cut in cubes)
½ lbs. pumpkin (you may use any creamy variety of squash or pumpkin) peeled and cut in cubes)
2 cups water.
1 red bell pepper (for color and flavor)
1 red onion cut in slices.
A bush of chives.
1 bouillon cube (You may substitute by using 1 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of water instead of 2 cups of water or if you want to keep it vegetarian by using a stick of celery and a spoonful of garlic)
Salt to taste.

carrot rice

Directions.

Heat some oil and stir fry your carrots, pumpkin, bouillon and onion. (A sofrito) Allow to cook for one minute, then add the water. When it boils add the rice and stir until it dries. Then cover, lower the fire and allow to cook at low fire for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned as we are working hard to make “Las recetas de Mama Pura” available in English as promised. With luck, we may have it published before the end of the month.

A big hug from the warm Caribbean.

Arturo

You may also find us @

dominican cooking, dominican cuisine, cocina dominicana, la cocina dominicana, recetas de cocina, recetas de cocina dominicana, recetas dominicanasdiccionario culinario dominicano, the dominican cooking, lexicon, carrot rice, carrot rice recipe, carrot locrio

About these ads

Posted in Adventures!, From the culinary lab, Vegetarian, Vegetarian - Lactoovovegetarian, Vegetarian - Lactovegetarian | Tagged bell pepper, carrot rice, carrot rice recipe, dinner, dominican food, dominican recipes, garlic salt, red onion, vegetarian | 2 Comments

Spaghetti Bolognese Dominican Heat Style

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Arturo Féliz-Camilo

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hello friends and fellow foodies!

One of the most simple, delicious and popular Dominican recipes is Spaghetti “A la Criolla” (Dominican Style spaghettis)

Almost all popular eateries and street food trucks and stands have spaghetti made this way for breakfast (yup, you heard right!)

Some time ago I had shared my “Sous Chef’s” delicious juicy meatballs. A few days ago I had some leftover meatballs and stewed beans and I decided to do spaghetti “a la Criolla” with a twist.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Hope you enjoy!

Regular ingredients for Spaghetti “a la criolla”.

1 lb. spaghetti.
4 tbsp. tomato paste.
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. black pepper.
1 large red onion.
1 tbsp. garlic paste (natural home-made)
2 sweet green peppers (I use Cubanela)
1 bouillon cube.
2 cups water.
2 tbsp. mayonnaise.
Salt to taste.
Parmesan cheese.

Spaghetti Bolognese

My personal touch.

Stewed beans.
Gouda cheese.
My “Sous Chef’s” delicious juicy meatballs.

Directions

Boil your spaghetti and leave them al dente. (spaghetti a la criolla is usually a bit overdone which is why you should leave them al dente so they’ll finish correctly when you cook them with the sauce and don’t become a mushy mash)

In a pot stir fry the onion, peppers, garlic paste and bouillon. Add the water, oregano, pepper and tomato paste. Allow to boil until it gets creamy, add the stewed beans and meatballs. Check the salt.

Add the spaghetti and allow to mix well. Serve and add the cheese slices on top and allow to melt.

Goes great with tostones.

Now remember TODAY and ALL WEEKEND. THE Dominican COOKING LEXICON IS AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON! Please support us and leave your honest reviews when you do so!

As an additional treat, the Spanish edition and all of our tales books are also available for FREE DOWNLOAD only this weekend.

Just click on the images to go to Amazon

A big hug from the warm Caribbean

Arturo

You may also find us @

Posted in Cookbooks, Informative, Traditional Dominican Food | Tagged albondigas, dominican, dominican cooking lexicon, dominican food, dominican recipes, espaguetis a la boloñesa, espaguetis a la boloñesa domincanos, espaguetis a la criolla, espaguetis bolognesa, food trucks, habichuelas guisadas, receta de espaguetis a la boloñesa, receta de espaguettis a la bolognesa, recetas, sous chef, spaghettis a la criolla | 2 Comments

The Dominican Cooking Lexicon

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Arturo Féliz-Camilo

Hello friends and fellow foodies!

A few weeks ago I shared with you, with some sadness, our new project: Diccionario Culinario Dominicano. We were of course very happy to present it in our Spanish site (elfogoncito.net) but it was bittersweet to share with you, our English speaking friends, fans, supporters and subscribers, because many of you would not be able to enjoy it in your own language.

I have to admit that as much as I feel very comfortable speaking English, writing a whole book in English is a whole different deal. It’s much more stressful. I decided, regardless, to make sure that I made this one available for you as soon as possible (yes, I know I still owe you Mama Pura’s recipes, but that is my next project)

I started to translate the Diccionario Culinario Dominicano (Literally: Dominican Culinary Diccionary) or “Dominican Cooking Lexicon” even before the Spanish edition was ready. As I was almost halfway done, my beautiful wife and “Sous Chef” pointed out an interesting fact: “How will non-Spanish speakers know how to pronounce Dominican Spanish words”. It made a lot of sense, especially because a lot of our cooking words come from Taino tradition so they’re not even technically Spanish. That is how the “Pronunciation keys” idea came to be. The problem? It sent me back many days of work, as I had to start working right away.

As a special make-up treat, the “Dominican Cooking Lexicon” is much more detailed and has more explanations that its Spanish counterpart. It has many more footnotes and even an image that is not available in the Spanish edition (Dominican cooking regions)

It even has content not available in the Spanish edition. That does not bother me and I don’t intend to complete the Spanish Edition. When explaining our culture it takes a bit more when speaking to English speakers than Spanish ones for obvious reasons. That is also why while our two sites are parallel they’re not exactly identical and will never be.

The “Dominican Cooking Lexicon” is already available from Amazon and Createspace. (In Paperback and digital editions)

In Createspace you may get a 10% discount with code B3K9FBG2.

Now, as a special treat to our supporters, the DIGITAL EDITIONS of BOTH books as well as all of our other tales books will be available FOR FREE DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON starting tomorrow and during the entire weekend (Friday to Sunday)

This offer is only made public through our Facebook page and Site. Take advantage, spread the word and PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO SUPPORT US BY LEAVING YOUR HONEST REVIEWS IN AMAZON.

To visit the Amazon pages just click on the images.

Thanks for all your support and motivation.

Lots of love from the warm Caribbean!

Arturo

You may also find us @

Posted in Cookbooks, Informative | Tagged cocina dominicana, diccionario culinario, Dominican Cooking, dominican cooking lexicon, dominican cuisine, english speakers, la cocina dominicana, pronunciation keys, recetas, recetas de cocina, recetas de cocina dominicana, spanish edition, spanish speakers, spanish words, the Dominican cooking lexicon | Leave a comment

Yanikekes! (Dominican “Journey cakes”)

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Arturo Féliz-Camilo

Hello everyone!

As some of you know, Dominican Heat is the English edition and younger sister of our Spanish written page El Fogoncito.

When I started translating our recipes I had been furiously writing recipes in Spanish for almost a year, which means I had a huge task in front of me if I wanted to translate recipe by recipe. (I would only do it that way, being a professional interpreter has taught me to despise and disrespect automatic translators)

In the end, I settled for procrastination and did not. The idea was to slowly pick up and eventually get at least the most important ones translated.

As I was working today in the English edition of “Diccionario Culinario Dominicano” (In which I’m putting a lot if work to make it available as soon as possible) I realized I had not published, in English that is, the recipe for yanikekes (Johnny cakes or yaniqueques), and I intend to mend that.

Dominican Republic had a heavy immigration from the smaller Caribbean islands during several historical periods. Those islands had heavy English influence which is how a lot of English traditional recipes, customs, last names and words made it into Dominican Spanish. Most of this immigration happened in the Southwestern region and it is from there that this recipe comes.

Many years ago, a “cocolo” friend (we call them cocolos and no, they are not offended but are actually quite proud. They are pure Dominicans) shared his mom’s recipe. I had shared it a long time ago in El Fogoncito and today I share with you.

It’s a very traditional dish in our beaches, where they’re almost the mandatory side dish with fried or stewed beach fish.

Ingredients

1.       1 lb. wheat flour
2.       1 tsp. baking powder
3.       1 tbsp. butter
4.       1 egg yolk
5.       1 can evaporated milk
6.       Salt

Yanikekes (or “Journey cakes”)

Directions

Sieve the flour with the baking powder, mix with the butter, the yolk, the milk and the salt. Prepare the dough. (simple mold until manageable) Cut in pieces, make small balls with your hands, expand and allow to rest for half an hour. Then fry. It should render 12-15 units.

Notes

This is the original recipe and the disks are smaller and chubbier. The recipe you find in beaches is much cheaper and generally will only have salt, water and flour. (no milk, egg yolk or butter) It is also much larger.

A big hug from the warm Caribbean!

Arturo

You may also share with us @

receta de journey cakes, journey cakes recipe, dominican journey cakes recipe