Aji Relleno (Green Bell Pepper Stuffed with Ground Beef)

Well this is my grandmothers stuffed Bell Pepper dish. It is a green bell pepper, stuffed with well seasoned raw ground beef binded with raw beaten eggs, stuffed well, sealed and simmered in a tomato based sauce.

This is a comorting dish (well to me almost anything Cuban that has been simmered, etc. is comfort food.)

Main Ingredients:

-6 medium green bell peppers

-1 beaten egg to bind the tops

Ingredients for filling:

-1 lbs. lean ground beef

-2 large eggs beaten

-1/2 onion minced

-4 cloves garlic finely minced (mashed to a paste in a mortar or with a garlic press)

-1/2 bunch cilantro or parsley minced

-1 teaspoon cumin

-1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

-1 1/2 more or less salt to taste

-1/2 cup cracker meal or bread crumbs

For the sauce

-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce

-1 teaspoon cumin

-1/2 teaspoon oregano

-Salt to taste

-1/2 a bunch of cilantro minced or parsley

-1/2 onion minced

-4 cloves of garlic finely minced or mashed (in a mortar or garlic press)

Directions for Main Ingredients and Filling:

(1)Wash the green bell pepper from outside only, cut a small circle on top of the bell pepper where the stem is, just remove the stem cap, carefully clean out the insides without ripping, remove seeds and white parts. As much as you can without breaking it. Set aside.

(2)Beat an egg and add a pinch of salt set aside.

(3)Now mix ground beef with 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and salt to taste, 1/2 minced onion, 4 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 bunch cilantro, 2 beaten eggs, and 1/2 cup cracker crumbs or bread crumbs, or grated hard old bread your choice ( I use crackers)

(4)Now fill bell peppers carefully with ground beef mixture, don't fill all the way to top leave a little bit of space and spoon in a little beaten egg to be able to make the caps of the bell pepper fit. Repeat until your done with all peppers. If you have leftover meat you can just get another bell pepper and prepare it, or you can make it into a meatball or something. (I had no leftover ground meat)

Directions for sauce:

(5)Now heat exra-virgin olive oil on medium, then sautee 1/2 minced onions and 4 garlic cloves until fragrant don't let garlic burn, add tomato sauce, and about 1 cup water to thin our sauce, then add cumin, oregano, and salt to taste, bring to a boil stir.

(6)Place carefully bell peppers over boiling sauce standing up, spoon over sauce, cover and simmer on medium low for 25- 30 minutes until everything is cooked.

(7)Your done sprinkle some minced cilantro or parsley around.

I ate it today with the "Congri Con Coco" (check out recipe on my blog) I made.

If your wondering how to start digging into the bell pepper, in my house we simply cut it right down the middle with a fork and kinfe then cut pieces with bell pepper and meat and eat like that. Then I scoop some of the tasty sauce with my spoon and drizzle it over each bite.

PLEASE DO NOT JUST SCOOP OUT MEAT AND NOT EAT BELL PEPPER IF SO DON'T EAT IT AT ALL!

Congri Con Coco (Coconut Red Beans with Rice)

My grandmother never made "Congri" like other Cubans did. She would always add coconut milk to , but she would also always tell me "Cubans don't make it like that".

She said she learned to make it like this from some Haitian friends that lived in Cuba at the time she was there.


This is not an authentic "Congri" but very similar to it, I know how to make a more authentic "Congri" but I will make it some other time.

Honestly I will almost always pick my "grandmas way" over authentic, because her cooking when I make it reminds me of her and brings up child hood memories of her food and comfort. I want to preserve that and share my cooking with others and pass it to future generations of my family.


I guess this dish is an example of Haitian influence on Cuban cooking. When I make the "authentic" "Congri" I will explain the whole story about "Congri" and how in Western Cuba "Moros y Christianos" done with black beans is more popular and in Eastern Cuba (El Oriente) prefers red beans and makes Congri usually instead of "Moros"

Ingredients:
-2 cups rice
-1 cup red beans (like red kidney beans or something similar)
-1 cup coconut milk
-2 cups red bean broth (I'll show how to make it)
-9 cups water (to cook red beans)
-1 medium to small green bell pepper minced or 1/2 a large green bell pepper minced
-1/2 onion minced
-4 cloves of garlic crushed and finely minced (preferably through a garlic press or a mortar)
-salt to taste (I used like 3 teaspoons for the whole dish)
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-2 tabelspoons Coconut Oil or Lard/ pork fat to fry/suatee "sofrito" (You can use Extra-Virgin Olive Oil to but this dish is at it's best with Coconut Oil or Lard I used Extra-Virgin Olive Oil this time because I didn't have Coconut Oil and forgot I had a tub of lard in the fridge)


Directions:

(1)Sift rice on a strainer to get rid of tiny broken grains. Rinse about 3 times until water runs clear swooshing and rubbing to get rid of any excess starch. Now place back on the strainer and let it drain well leave it alone until your beans are ready for the rest.

(2)In a medium pot rinse red beans well, add 9 cups of water stir, bring to a boil on high then cover and simmer on medium low for about 60 minutes. (IMPORTANT DO NOT PRE-SOAK OR OVERCOOK BEANS OR MAKE THEM SUPER COOKED BECAUSE YOU WILL RUIN THE WHOLE RECIPE BECAUSE IF BEANS ARE OVERCOOKED THEY WILL RELEASE STARCH WHEN COOKING WITH RICE AND THE RICE WON'T ABSORB LIQUID AND OU WILL END UP WITH A MESS! IT'S HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE!)
(3)The beans should be soft but not really mooshy and falling apart easily. They should be able to hold it's shape because you will cook them an additional 30 minutes with the rice.(4)Drain beans and SAVE the red bean broth (this will give the rice a nice color and has to be used to cook rice)
(5)Pur rice in rice cooker, add red beans, 2 cups of red bean broth, and 1 cup of coconut milk (you can freeze any leftover coconut milk use in any other dish). Set aside.
(6)Heat Coconut Oil or Lard in a frying pan on medium high or medium and then when warm enough sautee minced onions, bell peppers, and garlic until fragrant and onion is translucent (this may take like 5 minutes or more) stir every now and then.(7)Add the sauteed onion, bell pepper, and garlic mixture with oil and all to the rice and beans and stir in gently.

(8)Season with salt (I used 3 teaspoons the liquid will taste salt but once it is fully cooked it will be just right, because rice absorbs lots of flavor and you gotta have enough salt to flavor rice, beans, and sofrito (sautee). Then add ground cumin and also stir in gently I fold carefully I don't want to break any of the beans and have it release stach.

(9)Cover and turn on rice cooker, when done fluff rice and everything and it's done.

I love it the rice is a very light redish pink color because of the red bean broth and coconut milk mixture. The rice was perfect it was moist but not mooshy. It was very slightly al dente but it's suppose to be like that.

If your final dish is slightly dry in your opinion then just splash a little bit of leftover bean broth fold in gently and cover for awhile it should moisten (I always get it perfect now days though ;) If it ends up to moist, simply get a paper bag, cut it place it on top and press slightly then cover for a while turn rice cooker back on and wait for like 10 minutes.

If it's still not right then you are screwed love ;) BUT IF YOU FOLLOW EVERYTHING EXACTLY AS I STATED THEN YOU SHOULD GET A PERFECT RESULT. (assuming you used regular long-grain white rice like Mahatma or something)

ALSO sometimes my grandmother would add unsweetened shredded coconut or fresh grated coconut to this

Bistec de Puerco Empanizado (Breaded Pork Steak)

This is a really thin cut pork steak, seasoned with some spices, passed in egg then cracker meal and pan-fried.


I love this, and when we pan-fry meats or just brown them in a pan we always make them "Encebollado" meaning in the drippings left in the pan we sometimes add more oil and sautee lots of thick cut onions, and deglaze with lime and season with a little salt and then garnish with some cilantro or parsley. We serve it over the meat.

My mom does this exactly how my grandma taught her, except she adds all the seasoning to the beaten egg and passes every single piece of meat well until there is no more egg left and everything is well coated, she say's it better like that because, "Si le pones el sazon a la carne y lo pasas por huevo se le queda el sazon al huevo" (if you season the steaks directly and pass them through egg the seasoning will not stick or some crap like that it doesn't make sense to me because you end up using the whole egg anyways so the seasoning still stays with the meat regardless but I do it like her anyway just in case)

Ingredients:

-1 1/2 lbs. thin cut pork steaks

-5 large cloves of garlic mashed to paste in a mortar and pestle or pressed through a garlic press. (yes we love garlic that much)

-1 teaspoon ground cumin (to taste you can use more or less)

-1/2- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

-salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon)

-1 large egg

-Some well crushed Saltine Crackers or Crackers (if unsalted season em with salt)

-1 whole onion sliced into rings, or thickly julienned

-1 or 2 limes

-Some Cilantro or Parsley to garnish.

Directions

(1)Firstly before ANTHING using crackers as bread crumbs will make this really crisp and good, JUST when you are breaking the bread crumbs put them in a bag and crush well with a cup or something heavy even your hands. This will make a crispy crust.

DO NOT PUT CRUMBS IN A BLENDER THEY WONT BE CRISP!!! THEY WILL JUST BE POWDERY!

(2)Okay now, beat 1 egg, add cumin, salt, pepper and garlic now smother each steak and dip and swish around beaten seasoned egg, do it to all thin steaks, then if you run out and still have some steak smother them all together to get everything seasoned (I know messy) now wash your.

(3)In a plate dump the cracker crumbs, roll each steak in crumbs and coat well. Set aside.

(4)Heat oil on medium high until heated (we use extra-virgin olive oil). Now lightly fry each steak until browned on one side, then flip to brown on the other.

(5)Set aside cooked steaks on a plate with paper towels. And repeat.

(6)When all steaks are done, now add the cut onions and sautee until you get rid of raw taste, squeeze lime juice into the pan and stir to deglaze some and give them some tang, season with salt (optional) and toss with some parsley or cilantro. When serving steaks put this on top.

PLEASE NOTE: You can do this with really thin cut sirloin steak.