“Tajo con trozo”, arenque con trozo (boiled plantains with stewed herring!) Dominican recipes, dominican food

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Hello friends!

“Tajo con trozo” is a phrase that even for regular Dominicans will sound weird. You would have to be from the Dominican Northern Region (Known as “Cibao” pronounced “/Cee/-/bah/-/oh/”) to know it. “Trozo” is a very Cibao traditional word to describe Musaceae.

As you probably know if you follow American baseball and especially if you watched the last Baseball Classic World Tournament, Dominicans live practically on “Platano” (The Dominican motto during the tournament was “Platano Power”)

arenque con trozo

Plátano is, so to speak, the “King of the Musaceae” and it is very traditional to just boil it with a bit of salt and eat it for dinner or breakfast with some stewed protein, which could be salami, sardines, herring or even chicharron or fried eggs.

stewed herring and “trozo”

One of the most popular dinners in the Dominican Republic is “huevos fritos con trozo”. (which is basically fried eggs and boiled plantains) Of course we do eat other varieties. Some even unknown to the non-Dominican public (like green bananas –basically bananas that are not ripe yet-, purple bananas, apple bananas, Rulos, Philippine plantains, etc.)

Today I share a “trozo con arenque” recipe (boiled plantains with stewed herring, traditional style)

stewed herring

Ingredients

• Boiled plantains.
• 1 lb smoked herring fillets
• ½ onion.
• 1 Bugalu or Barcelo tomato. (A Dominican strain of plum tomatoes)
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste.
• 2 tbsp.vegetable oil.

Directions.

Boil plantains with a bit of salt. Please peel them first. I know most of you will think I’m taking you for less than intelligent people, but believe me when I say, I know why I say it. (LOL)

Herring is pretty salty, so before you use it, boil it a little bit and throw away that water (unless you’re planning to make herring rice, in which case save it by all means!)

Stir fry the tomatoes in the oil, add the onion (previously sliced). The add the herring fillets, a bit of water (about ¼ cup) the tomato paste and allow it all to mix well. Give it some time for flavors to develop a  bit and serve on top of the boiled plantains.

Enjoy! (if you like this, you’re on your way of becoming Dominican, which is like a virus and is highly contagious!)

A big hug from the warm beaches of the Caribbean…

Arturo

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