My Culinary Adventures: Honduran Food

Living with host families for our three months of training really took a toll on our bodies, since Hondurans loooove to use manteca, or lard.  And salt and sugar.  But not together.  There is also manteca vegetal which is something like vegetable shortening.  I have never eaten as much fried chicken in my life as I have here, or plates where everything on it is fried!  I don't even like fried chicken (and when I eat it, I definitely take off the skin), but we pretty much had to eat what was given to us and try out the different types of food.  I am just extremely grateful that nobody has given me sopa de mondongo yet, because I don't think I could even bring myself to eat that.  It's a soup of beef tripe that some people serve every Sunday.  Other volunteers have had to eat it, and other things that I wouldn't be able to even look at.. like seafood.  I have a seafood phobia.  I only eat fish, and it has to be grilled or baked, not fried, not raw.  I'm still trying to figure out what happened to me because when I was little I ate everything, shrimp, crab, lobster, beef tongue, chicken liver, etc, but since elementary school everything changed.  Maybe I'm blocking a memory?  Hmmm....

Back to the topic.  Honduran food.  Yes, it's greasy, yes it's clogging your arteries, and yes you may get diabetes and high blood pressure problems one day from the obscene amounts of sugar and salt, but MAN, it is SO GOOD!  In moderation of course ^_^  I have learned to cook a couple Honduran staple foods here, and still have more to cook, such as pupusas, baleadas, and taquitos de pollo, but I've got time.  Here's what I've made so far:

Refried Beans and Fried Green Bananas with Garlic

Recipe for Frijoles Fritos y Tajadas


Ingredients
Manteca Vegetal
1 Package Red Beans (Frijoles Rojos)
1-2 Green Bananas
Minced garlic

1. Melt manteca vegetal in small saucepan over low heat, add the beans from the package and mix well.
2. Rub a bit of manteca on hands before handling the green bananas so that the resin doesn't stick to them.
3. With a knife, cut along the banana peel on the curved-out side, from bottom to up, wiggling the knife left and right to widen the cut.
4. Put banana in a bowl of water and peel under the water.
5. Slice banana diagonally
6. In a frying pan, heat up manteca vegetal on medium-high heat.  Add banana slices and fry until they are as crisp as you want them to be.  Should be like french fries.  
7. When done, turn the heat down to low and cook the minced garlic, then mix the garlic with the bananas.

Fried Plantain, Refried Beans and Onions, and Mantequilla

Recipe for Plátano Frito, Frijoles Fritos con Cebollas, y Mantequilla


Ingredients:

Manteca vegetal
1/2 Onion
1 Bag Refried Red Beans
1-2 Ripe Plantains
1 Bag Sula brand Mantequilla (or whatever type of mantequilla you like)

1. Fry onions in frying pan until translucent, same manner as frying the garlic in recipe above
2. Cook beans in same manner as recipe above, then add onions and stir well, keep on low heat.
3. Peel plantains and slice diagonally, trying to keep the length long
4. Heat manteca vegetal in a frying pan on medium-high heat.
5. Add plantain slices and cook until browned on both sides.  Slices should be soft and flexible when finished.
6. Arrange plantains, beans on plate and add the mantequilla to your liking!

Cemita with Coffee