Dominican Republic -- Rice & Beans (Moro de Habichuelas)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: D for Dominican Republic
Dish: Rice & Beans

We are back to South America today, to Dominican Republic. It is a nation on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean region. Chrsitopher Columbus landed in Hispaniola in 1492, during the first of his 4 voyages to America. Dominican Republic is the most visited destination in the Caribbean. 

The first time I heard of this country was 9 years ago from a colleague who was from Dominican Republic. He was a very jovial person and had lots of stories to tell about his country. What I found interesting was he cooked his own lunch and brought it to work. I never got a chance to taste his food since it was mostly meat based but it always smelt soo good.
Dominican cuisine is typical to what can be found in other Latin American countries, but many of the names of the dishes are different. Meals tend to have meats and starches. Many dishes are made with Sofrito (a mix of local herbs) and is used as a wet rub for meats and sauteed to bring out all of a dish's flavors.

I picked a dish very commonly made all over South America. Every county in Latin & South America has their own version of rice and beans. While looking for dishes to make from Dominican Republic, I found this amazing blog called 'Aunt Clara's Kitchen' written by Clara, a Dominican herself. She has so many traditional recipes on her blog and here pictures are absolutely mouth watering and perfectly go with her beautiful write-ups.

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China -- Vegetarian Shanghai Fried Rice

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days

Country: C for China

Dish: Vegetarian Shanghai Fried Rice

So after trying 2 dishes from South America (Argentina & Brazil), we are travelling all the way to Easten Asia, to China. C for China was an obvious choice for me. Being in the apparel retail industry for as long as I did, I've had a lot of interaction with China and lot of Chinese too.
I went to China 8 years back for business and had a chance to try the local Chinese dishes. Traditional Chinese food is very different from the Chinese food we get in both India and the U.S. Both of the Indo-Chinese and American-Chinese dishes are highly customized and cater to the local palate.
Chinese cuisine is highly diverse and varies between the provinces. Styles and tastes are varied by class, region and ethnic backgrounds, A number of different styles contribute to Chinese cuisine but perhaps the best known and most influential are Cantonese, Shandong, Jiangsu and Szechuan cuisines. These styles are very distinct from one another due to factors such as availability of ingredients, climate, history, cooking technique and lifestyle.

I had so many Chinese dishes in mind that I wanted to try and I even asked one of my close Chinese friend to give me few recipes too. She told me few simple salad recipes, but that was before we went on India trip. At some point in the middle, I remembered this Shanghai Fried rice that I ate in Shanghai and I decided to make this simple fried rice for today.

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Brazil -- Acarajé (Black Eyed Peas Fritters - Vegetarian recipe)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: B for Brazil
Dish: Acarajé (Black Eyed Peas Fritters)

Today we are going to northeast of Argentina, to the largest country in both South America and Latin American region, Brazil. Brazil is one of the countries that my husband frequently visits. It remained a Portuguese colony until 1808 and is now the largest Portuguese speaking country in the world.
My knowledge of Brazil is limited to the Amazon rainforest (about 60% of the rainforest in within Brazil and 13% in Peru), Rio de Janeiro (from watching lot of movies) and of course football.
Brazilian cuisine varies greatly by region, reflecting the varying mix of indigenous and immigrant populations. It has European and African influences. Root vegetables like cassava, yams, and fruit like acai, papaya, guava, passion fruit and pineapple are among the local ingredients used in cooking. The national beverage is Coffee. Brazil has been the world's largest producer of coffee for the past 150 years.

Todays' dish is an African cuisine inspired Brazilian dish called Acarajé. It is a deep fried fritter made from peeled black-eyed peas. It is found in Nigerian and Brazilian cuisines. It is traditionally made in the northeastern Brazil, especially in the cities of Salvador and Olinda, often sold as street food.

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Argentina - Creme Caramel with Dulche de Leche

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: A for Argentina
Dish: Creme Caramel with Dulche de Leche

This month, our blogging marathon group is setting off on a culinary journey around the world. I have to say this group is filled with hyper active women who get crazy ideas and thanks to our ever enthusiastic leader, Valli, we are able to channel all our energies into something interesting and exciting at the same time. So after our A-Z Indian cooking series, we started thinking on what the theme for the next mega marathon would be and A-Z International cooking series was the next obvious and logical choice.

Starting today, we will be visiting a different country and enjoying a dish or two from the local cuisine. I've always loved the concept of Passport to a certain country by making and enjoying their dishes right at home without even leaving your kitchen. Rachael ray used to make some of these passport style dishes in her '30 minute meals' years ago.

Deciding on one country to cook from a whole list was a difficult task for me. To make things simple, I decided to cook from countries that I'm really familiar with. Since my husband travels a LOT and gets a chance to taste the local food, I've cooked from the countries he visited. Also I'm lucky to have a very diverse group of friends from different countries. I've asked them to share their favorite recipes that I can cook for this series. For a few countries, I played it safe and cooked simple dishes that I'm sure the whole family likes. 

A for Argentina: Starting off the series with Argentina. It is located in the southeastern South America and one of the countries that my husband frequently visits. He likes the country, but says it is really difficult to get vegetarian food there. Not surprisingly because Argentina has the highest consumption of red meat in the world. But he found some authentic Italian restaurants that serve amazing Italian food that he enjoys a lot.

Argentina is famous for its Tango and for delicious milk based desserts like dulche-de-leche, alfajores and so on.

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