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Friday, June 12, 2020easy homemade sauces By Melissa Pette In these long-drawn and boring days of quarantine, it seems like the day has many more hours. But you know what? There is a world beyond TikTok, Instagram or Netflix. Let me invite you to take a short trip to the homemade Costa Rican food dimension. Use your time productively, go to the kitchen, and make some of the following easy, natural and healthy recipes. Did you try Costa Rican sauces? Possibly you have already visited restaurants in your community and tried mango-shrimp or almond-and-peanuts steak. The secret of those delicious dishes is in the sauce. Here I show you how to make four delicious Costa Rican traditional sauces, easier than you think.  Red Hot Sauce only for the brave. To prepare enough sauce for 6 people you need: - 2 jalapeño peppers (if you like it hotter use 4 peppers), - 4 big red tomatoes, - 2 big sweet red peppers, - 1 white onion, - 1 spoonful of garlic powder, or the equivalent of two garlic cloves, - 1 roll of cilantro (coriander), - 1 piece of chicken breast, - 2 acidic lemons (no sweet lemons), - 1 teaspoon of salt, - 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, - Water First, in a pot add four cups of water, add the chicken, peppers and tomato. Cover the pot to allow water to boil faster. The running water will soften the ingredients in 20 minutes. When the vegetables have softened, remove them from the water and put them in a bowl. When they are cold, you remove the vegetables skin. Remove the chicken from the water. Save the broth in another container until it cools. Chop the onion and cilantro into small pieces. Squeeze the two lemons until extract 1/2 cup of lemon juice. In a blender, add the peppers, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and a cup of chicken broth. Blend everything until the sauce forms. There you go! This spicy Red Hot Sauce is great for adding to vegetables, white rice, red meat, or sandwiches, salty snacks..... anything. Better to keep the sauce in the fridge and heat it a little before eating What happened to the piece of boiled chicken breast? Keep it in the fridge for another recipe.  Almond and Peanut Sauce for those spicy-allergic taste buds. The ingredients are: - 1 cup chopped red sweet peppers, - 1/2 cup of almonds, - 1/2 cup of peanuts baked, no salty (Remove the red peanut peel), - 1 teaspoon of garlic, - 1 teaspoon of salt, - 1 cup of olive oil, - 1/2 cup sunflower oil, - 6 corn tortillas (Any brand you can find in the pulpería works). Chop 6 tortillas and peppers into small pieces. In a pot add the chopped tortillas, peppers, almonds, peanuts, and half a cup of sunflower oil. Fry everything until the peppers soften and the tortillas turn a golden color. Remove the ingredients and let them cool in a bowl. In the blender, add half a cup of olive oil, garlic, salt and the ingredients that we had previously fried. You will notice a kind of dough is formed. If you want your sauce more liquid, add the rest of the olive oil. Just in a few minutes, you made a sauce perfect to use with fried fish, grilled meat or pasta. If you like it spicier, you can use jalapeño peppers instead of sweet red peppers. Do not forget to keep it in the fridge and heat it a little before eating  Avocado sauce. Attention this is not guacamole! This is a traditional sauce in Costa Rica and very common in Mexico too. You will require: - 500 grams of green tomato. - 6 sweet green peppers. - 2 jalapeño peppers - 1 teaspoon of garlic - 1 teaspoon of salt - 1 white onion, - 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda powder, - 1 cup of chopped cilantro, - 2 large avocados, - 1 cup of water. Chop the tomato, peppers, cilantro, onion and one avocado. Save the other avocado to use later. In a pot add the tomato, peppers, half the cilantro, half the onion and 1/2 cup of water. The idea is that the water level does not cover the ingredients. Add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. Boil the ingredients for 10 minutes. Remove the boiled ingredients and let them cool in a bowl. In the blender add all the ingredients that we have previously boiled, add salt, onion and cilantro, garlic and the avocado we had earlier saved. Don't add water. Blend these ingredients at low speed until you get a very green beautiful spicy avocado sauce. Absolutely delicious on vegetables, boiled corn, baked chicken or any red BBQ meat. Remember to keep it in the fridge and heat it a little before eating..... Yummy!  Mango Loco Sauce with a twist at the end. Yes, mango is a delicious tropical fruit that we can use to make a delicious cuckoo sauce. I found this sauce when I visited the country town of Sarchí. This is a small folk town in the southern zone of Alajuela Province. There it was in front of the town's sports plaza, the "Cantina del Pueblo" restaurant, something like the town's bar. Don Carlos, the owner-cashier-chief-waitress, was very kind to share his recipe with me. And now with you. We are going to require: - 2 large yellow mangoes, - 1 white onion, - 1 teaspoon of garlic, - 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder, - 1/2 cup of white sugar or brown sugar, - 1 tablespoon of vinegar, - 1 cup of water, - 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil, - 1 teaspoon of pepper. In a pot add 1/2 cup of oil, chopped onion, the garlic and chili powder. When the onion is crystallized, add the pepper. Remove the peel from the mango. Chop the pulp into squares. Add the mango to the pot and the rest of the olive oil. Mix everything gently. Add the vinegar and mix for one more minute. Add the water and sugar. Mix for 4 more minutes. Remove the mango and reserve the broth in another container. In a blender, add the mango and blend at slow speed. When the mango is ready, you can pass it through a strainer to remove the excess fiber. I like fiber, but it is ultimately your call. In a blender, add the mango (after passing it through the strainer), add the broth and the ingredients that you had reserved. Remember to blend at a slow speed. And there you go! Your Mango Loco sauce is ready to drive you crazy. It is the sweet perfect combination with salty fried shrimp, baked fish, or all those seafood dishes you like..... or vanilla ice cream! I know it sounds like a broken record, but keep it in the fridge and heat it a little before eating, even with ice cream. Enjoy! ----------------------- Editor's note: Email your comments or inquiries to Melissa Pette at melissaamcr2017@gmail.com. Do you want to share your recipes with AM Costa Rica readers? Send your homemade recipes with a photo of the dish to food@amcostarica.com. |
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