Congri Oriental (Cuban Red Beans and Rice)

This is a very easy simple, typical Cuban Red Beans and Rice known as "Congri", Congri is the preferred mixed rice and bean dish of the people from "Oriente" provinces of Cuba which are most of the eastern provinces all the way to the south end of the Island. It is rice steamed with red bean broth and red beans. Oriente provinces are more African influenced and native Taino influenced I believe I've read somewhere that the word "Congri" came from the Haitian Creole language with it's root words being "congo" referring to the beans and "riz" referring to the rice put together as "Congri" not sure though...

Western Cuban cooking (I'm speaking more towards the capital Havana) which is more inclined towards Spaniard cooking prefers and commonly makes "Moros y Christianos" (Moors and Christians, the black beans represent the Moors the white rice represents the Christians and former power) it is white rice steamed with black bean broth and black beans. It is seasoned differently than Congri usually and has no pork product more often than not (though sometimes my grandmother will use bacon grease) Moros is what is typically consumed at my home, but occasionally I crave some Congri.

My grandmother makes a different version of Congri most of the time she calls, "Congri Con Coco" (coconut flavored version of Cuban Red Beans and Rice) it is not an authentic dish, but my grandmother said she was taught to make it this way by Haitian friends she knew in pre-Castro Cuba.


Ingredients:
-3 cups of white rice
-1 1/2 cups of dry red beans
-6 strips of bacon cur into small pieces (mined if possible)
-1 medium onion minced
-1 medium green bell pepper
-6-7 cloves of garlic finely minced (through a paste, or mashed to paste)
-1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
-1/2-1 teaspoon dried oregano
-2 bay leaves
-2 1/2 teaspoons salt (atleast)
-water (to make red bean broth)

Directions:
(1)In a medium pot rinse red beans well, add 12 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 OR YOU WILL END UP WITH A MESS! IT'S HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE!)

(2)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.

(3)Drain beans and SAVE the red bean broth (this will give the rice a nice color and has to be used to cook rice)
(4)Wash rice really well in rice cooker pot, then drain well, add red beans, and the amount of red bean broth necessary to cook rice (it depends what type of rice regular white long grain rice will only need 1 1/2 cups of red bean broth per cup. if using Jasmine White Rice that is new crop you will need equal water to rice so 1 cup red bean broth for 1 cup rice)

(5)Heat a pan on medium high heat, add the chopped bacon, render it's fat, leave it there stirring occasionally until it renders it's fat and gets crispier, now add onion and bell pepper minced, sautee until translucent, add garlic and sautee until fragrant, throw this sautee into the rice cooker where the rice, beans, and red bean broth it, add salt, cumin, oregano, bay leave, carefully stir without breaking or pressing red beans.


(6)Cover and set rice to cook, wait until the rice cooker beeps, your done, uncover and fluff carefully not crushing anything.

Jericallas (Mexican Milk Custard with Golden Crusts?)

Today is the last day my second aunt (tia abuela) is staying over at my home. Before she left I kindly requested that I wanted to learn how to make "Jericallas" which is a cinnamon and vanilla infused custard baked in the oven in bathwater until it thickens and gets a golden brown crust that when cooled reminds me of a type of bread texture?, the custard actually puffs up in the oven it rises and becomes golden brown in the top, once cooled it has a creamy "jello"like texture como jelatina. It reminds me of of the Cuban and Spanish "Natilla" which is sometimes infused with lime or lemon rind, cinnamon, and vanilla, except the Natilla doesn't puff up, doesn't brown, and it is done solely on stove top and depends heavely on cornstarch, another it reminds me of it "Crema Catalana" which is similar to Natilla except it has a hard sugar crust.

This was the first time I have ever had "Jericallas" and I love them! I know other people always call the Hispanic/ Latino worlds custards "wanna be creme brulee" I have one thing to say, that statement is STUPID and IGNORANT! The Spanish speaking world has a variety of custards, each one with different variations because we enjoy these custard type desserts if we wanted creme brulee we would make "creme brulee" we have more custard based desserts than the french, so don't even try to compare!

Anyways before I say anything worse or offensive... without further a due here is is the recipe :)

Ingredients:
-8 cups of whole milk (2 liters or 2,000 mil.)
-3 cups of sugar AT LEAST add more to taste if desired ( I tasted it, it's sweet, but knowing me I would have liked 1 extra cup of sugar BUT my mother told me it's not suppose to be super sweet like I'm accustomed to ha ha)
-2 cinnamon sticks
-1 vanilla beans or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-12-16 whole eggs beaten
-8 tablespoons cornstarch (beaten and smoothed out with some milk enough to obtain a mixture that is not lumpy and not very thick)

Directions:
(1)Add milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla to a large pot, raise heat high, stir every now and then, then stir constantly until it comes to a strong bubble and starts rising.

(2)Set aside and let it cool a bit, until it stops throwing vapor.

(3)Now beat eggs until well incorporated, now stream into the cooled milk mixture little by little, stream in the cornstarch mixture stir well and incorporate well.


(4)In 2 large metal pans add water, put on your stove top and bring water to a boil, meanwhile fill ramenikins or big coffee mugs/ cups, make them fit into the pans with boiling water.
(5)Put in an oven pre-heated at 375 degrees fahrenhiet, uncovered, let them cook until golden to dark brown top and poofy about 30-40 minutes, remove from oven and let them cool at room temperature until they are not hot, chill in fridge if desired :) enjoy and be patient.
There is one cup missing in the final picture because I couldn't help myself and snatched a hot one to consume even though I'm supposed to wait for it to cool, but heck I was hungry and wanted dessert for lunch ^_^


NOTE: In oven put them on the top rack because if you are cooking 2 pans 1 on top rack and 1 on bottom the bottom will never brown, that's what happened to me so when I was done taking out the top batch I moved the bottom one to the top one an extra 20-30 minutes until browned.

ALSO: This recipe makes a big batch about enough for 10-12 people so you may cut recipe in half.

FURTHERMORE: This custard has a slight egg flavor, if you don't like eggs you may not like this. I have seen recipes for this that don't call for cornstarch but BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY okey :)

Birria de Res y Puerco de Mi Tia Licha (Pork and Beef Mexican Stew)

Birria is a Mexican stew made with smokey and very mild dried peppers, and a variety of spices, liquefied to a thick marinade used for meat overnight and cooked the next day. It is usually done traditionally with goats meat, but pork and beef or a mixture of both or even a mixture of all three meats can be used. The meats are boiled with enough water to not let them burn in the pot. Once cooked there is an optional method, some people like to put it in the oven so the meat gets browned a bit, this is called "Birria Dorada" (browned Birria)

My "tia abuela" (Mexican's grandmothers sister) I don't know what she is suppose to be called in English "grandmother aunt?" came over and has been staying with us to visit (we hardly see her so we are so happy for her to be here with us and don't want her to leave the longer she stays the better :) We all call her "Tia Licha" that's her nickname, but her name is "Elisa" anyways my "tia abuela" is from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico (somewhere in eastern, southern, mid Mexico) she is a a pretty good Mexican cook, and we are always excited to have her teach us those special Mexican dishes that we can't make and usually have to go out to eat (Birria is an example of this)

Now here is where me and my aunt differ she likes her Birria to be more "soupy" I would say, a more loose sauce, I like it to be thick, but since she's the teacher here I let her do it her way. She when boiling the meat submerges it in 4 inches of water, me I would prefer 1-2 inches submerged for a richer, denser, more flavorful sauce.

Ingredients:
-4 pounds thick fatty beef brisket or beef stew meat (any good cut for braising)
-2 pounds beef bone (or 1 pound pork bones and 1 pound beef)
-4 pounds pork butt (any good cut for braising)
-25 "Chile California" dried (also known as Anaheim Pepper, California Chile, it has to be dried, it has very mild almost to no heat)
-1/4 cup white distilled vinegar (not a bunch of vinegar like it's just some heavy drizzles
-2 tablespoons ground black pepper
-2 tablespoons ground cumin
-2 tablespoons oregano
-1 teaspoon whole cloves (grind them later)
 -1 inch piece of fresh ginger root minced
 -2 heads of garlic roughly chopped
-4 bay leaves


-salt to taste you will need AT LEAST 11-12 teaspoons of salt (remember you are cooking a very large portion)
-some water


Ingredients for garnish/ add ins:-1 medium onion very finely minced
-several limes cut into wedges
-cilantro minced (optional)
-your favorite spicy sauce (optional)

Directions:
(1)Remove seeds, veins and stems from dry chiles, bring water to a boil in a pot, add chiles, turn off heat and soak uncovered until they are soft (I am not sure how long it takes I wasn't looking at the time but it takes awhile just until nice and soft.

(2)In a blender in small batches, blend soaked softened dry chiles, oregano, cumin, cloves, black pepper, salt, garlic, ginger root, slowly add water from soaking chiles as well as vinegar, you DO NOT want a super loose liquidy consistency, you want it to be a little thick and rich, similar to a sort of loose milk shake? Add each batch to a big bowl until your done blending. Set aside. You should have a very smooth, thick liquid marinade. DO NOT STRAIN IT!!! You will get rid of alot of flavor and goodness


(3)Now cut meat into chunks wash well, get each piece and pass it through the blended seasoning, put in a large pot, do this for each piece including bones, now when all have been passed and are in a container throw rest of marinade. Add bay leaves on top. Marinade 12-24 hours or more.

(4)Now in a VERY LARGE pot, add the meats and the marinade, add water until meat is submerged 1-4 inches in water (REMEMBER WHAT I SAID I LIKE IT THICKENED so I would prefer the meat to be 1-2 inches of water submerged MAX because the meat releases juices, on the other hand my aunt likes it more brothy so she adds 4 inches of water to submerge so it's "al gusto" to your liking add as much or as little water to suit your preferences).

(5)Oh and add 1 whole onion. Bring to a boil on high heat. Now lower heat to medium low and simmer for about 2-3 hours (if you like super soft meat 3 hours if you like sort of soft meat that holds shape well do 2 hours it's again your preference). Check for salt, if it needs more salt add it taste broth, and let it boil another 10 minutes so it gets the salt in. (I'm not afraid of raw meat poisoning so if you have the balls you can taste if it needs more salt when you add water to raw meat and taste and adjust)
(6)To serve, put in a large bowl generous amounts of meat and fatty rich cooking liquid, top with minced onion to taste, some lime wedges, and a side of your spicy sauce of preference to taste. Also some corn tortillas to get some of the meat and moisten in the rich cooking liquid. ENJOY!
(7)To make Birria Dorada you simple put it in a oven heated anywhere from 400- 450 degrees without much of the cooking liquid and let it brown on top, then when serving you scoop the juices from the pot over the meat, I find this unessecary, why waste time doing this when it is already delicious.

NOTE: It may seem like alot but in my home this will feed 7 of us because we don't eat much of anything else when eating this just a big bowl of lots of meat, broth and the little side garnishes and very few corn tortillas we just want the meat ha ha. ALSO SALTING THIS DISH PROPERLY IS VERY IMPORTANT OR IT WON'T TASTE GOOD REMEMBER THERE'S A LARGE PROPORTION OF THINGS SO DON'T BE SHY ON SALT measure it out don't eyeball or there will also be risk of over salting, I added 1 teaspoon at a time.

ALSO:If you made it brothy and have broth left over the next day but no meat in it, you can buy more meat and just boil it in the broth it will be more flavorful. This dish tastes great the next day, and also if your more health conscience you can make a day in advance, cool it, remove excess grease that floats to top, and bring to a boil to eat again like new. Mmmm... some people add tomato and a different ratio of spices or use other chiles but my aunts seems to make use of just 1 type of chili... I've seen a number of recipes and they all seem to be different.

HMMM what else: To my fellow bloggers and readers living in Spain, if you can't find these chilies maybe try a very mild to not spicy dry chile pepper from Spain like the Ñora or a bunch of "Pimientos Choriceros" or something??? I don't know, and for other Mexican's reading this DO NOT use solely "Chiles Guajillos" they will make this dish tooo spicy for all types of people to enjoy.