latin american cuisine

Ridiculously tender meat, perfectly cooked potatoes, and richly flavorful broth. Ready to eat in less than 30 minutes.

Colombian Chicken Stew With Potatoes, Tomato, and Onion Recipe

large Russet

onion,

beefsteak

bay leaves

salt and black pepper

Combine potatoes, onion, tomato, chicken pieces, bay leaves, and a large pinch of salt in a pressure cooker. Toss with hands to combine. Seal lid and cook under high pressure for 25 minutes. Release pressure, remove lid, season to taste, and serve.

Piccadillo is classic Cuban comfort food, made from ground meat mixed with a flavorful combination of olives, capers, and raisins.

Cuban Picadillo Recipe

olive oil

yellow

red bell pepper, cored and seeded, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)

tomato paste

garlic, finely chopped (about 4 teaspoons)

cumin

oregano

dry white wine

beef

tomatoes

Worcestershire sauce

raisins

pimento stuffed olives plus 2 tablespoons brine

capers

potato

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add tomato paste, garlic, cumin, oregano, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, and bay leaves and cook until fragrant and tomato paste darkens in color, about 2 minutes. Add wine and cook until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes.

Add meat and cook, stirring and breaking up chunks, until no longer pink, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, raisins, olives, capers, brine, and potatoes. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until potatoes are tender, about 12 minutes.

Remove cover and season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove and discard bay leaves. Serve with white rice and black beans.

This crazy tender barbacoa with oxtails and a blend of fruity chilies puts the fast food version to shame.

Better Than Chipotle's Beef Barbacoa Recipe

chile

low sodium store-bought or homemade chicken stock, divided

vegetable

oxtails

garlic,

cloves

chipotle chilis packed in adobo, roughly chopped, with 2 tablespoons adobo sauce

apple cider vinegar

fish sauce

whole chuck-eye roast (about 4 pounds), or 4 pounds boneless shortribs

Kosher salt

corn

Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and preheat oven to 275°F. Add dried chilies to large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or stock pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until slightly darkened with intense, roasted aroma, 2 to 5 minutes. Do not allow to smoke. Remove chilies to small bowl and set aside. Alternatively, place dried chilies on a microwave-safe plate and microwave on high power in 15-second increments until pliable and toasted-smelling, about 30 seconds total. Transfer to a 2-quart microwave-safe liquid measuring cup or bowl. Add 2 cups chicken broth, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave on high power until gently simmering, about 5 minutes. Remove from microwave and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in now-empty Dutch oven over high heat until shimmering. Cook oxtails until well-browned on all sides, about 8 minutes total. Remove oxtails and set aside. Reduce heat to medium.

Add remaining two tablespoons oil and heat along with onions and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until deep brown and just starting to burn, about 10 minutes. Add cumin, cloves, and oregano and cook, stirring constantly until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add chipotle chilies, vinegar, and remaining chicken broth. Scrape up browned bits from bottom of pan, simmer until reduced by about half, then transfer entire contents to the jar of a blender.

Add soaked chilies and their liquid to the blender along with fish sauce. Start blender on low and slowly increase speed to high. Puree until smooth, about 1 minute. Set aside.

Place beef chuck in Dutch oven. Add oxtails, bay leaves, and sauce. Bring to a boil over high heat. Place lid on pot slightly cracked, then transfer to oven. Cook, turning beef occasionally, until completely tender and a cake tester or metal skewer inserted into meat shows little to no resistance, about 4 hours. Discard bay leaves and oxtails (meat from oxtails can be eaten if desired). Transfer chuck to a large plate. Return Dutch oven to stovetop and cook, stirring frequently, over medium-high heat until liquid is reduced to about 1 1/2 cups, about 5 minutes.

Beef can be cut and served immediately, but for best flavor, transfer beef to a sealed container along with liquid and refrigerate up to five days. When ready to serve, slice beef against the grain into 1 1/2- to 2-inch slices, then shred into large chunks with fingers or two forks. Return beef to a pot along with the sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook, gently stirring and folding until beef is hot, tender, and coated in sauce. Season to taste with salt. Serve immediately, piling the beef into warm corn tortillas with onions, cilantro, salsa, limes, or other condiments as desired. Alternatively, serve as-is with rice, noodles, grits, or cornbread.

Butterflied chicken with a vinegar and spice rub gets slow-cooked on the grill, then quickly cooked directly over the coals to crisp the skin. It comes out tender and juicy, and goes perfectly with a simple spicy and creamy sauce made with jalapeños and ají amarillo peppers.

Peruvian-Style Grilled Chicken With Green Sauce Recipe

For the Sauce:

jalapeño chilies, roughly chopped (see note)

(15 milliliters) ají amarillo pepper paste (see note)

cilantro leaves (1 ounce; 28 grams)

garlic

(120 milliliters) mayonnaise

(60 milliliters) sour cream

lime

(5 milliliters) distilled white vinegar

(30 milliliters) extra virgin olive oil

For the Chicken:

whole chicken, 3 1/2 to 4 pounds (1.6 to 1.8kg)

(20 grams) kosher salt

(30 grams) ground cumin

(30 grams) paprika

(5 grams) black pepper

(30 milliliters) white vinegar

(30 milliliters) vegetable or canola oil

For the Sauce: Combine jalapeños, ají amarillo (if using), cilantro, garlic, mayonnaise, sour cream, lime juice, and vinegar in the jar of a blender. Blend on high speed, scraping down as necessary, until smooth. With blender running, slowly drizzle in olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sauce will be quite loose at this point, but will thicken as it sits. Transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the Chicken: Pat chicken dry with paper towels and place on a large cutting board, breast side down. Using sharp kitchen shears, remove backbone by cutting along either side of it. Turn chicken over and lay out flat. Press firmly on breast to flatten chicken. For added stability, run a metal or wooden skewer horizontally through chicken, entering through one thigh, going through both breast halves, and exiting through other thigh. Tuck wing tips behind back.

Combine salt, cumin, paprika, pepper, garlic, vinegar, and oil in a small bowl and massage with fingertips until homogeneous. Spread mixture evenly over all surfaces of chicken.

Light 1 chimney full of charcoal. When all charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread coals evenly over half of coal grate. Alternatively, set half the burners of a gas grill to high heat. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill, and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil grilling grate.

Place chicken, skin side up, on cooler side of grill, with legs facing toward hotter side. Cover grill, with vents on lid open and aligned over chicken. Open bottom vents of grill. Cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers 110°F (43°C). Carefully flip chicken and place, skin side down, on hotter side of grill, with breasts pointed toward cooler side. Press down firmly with a wide, stiff spatula to ensure good contact between bird and grill grates. Cover and cook until skin is crisp and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers 145 to 150°F (63 to 66°C), about 10 minutes longer. If chicken threatens to burn before temperature is achieved, carefully slide to cooler side of grill, cover, and continue to cook until done. Do not leave the lid off for longer than it takes to check temperature, or chicken will burn.

Transfer chicken to a cutting board and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Carve and serve with sauce.

Forget chicken noodle soup, and matzoh for that matter. This Latin American soup has corn masa-based chicken meatballs spiked with culantro and mint. Once you go Latin...

Sopa de Alb&#243;ndigas de Pollo (Chicken Meatball Soup) Recipe

For the Chicken

(4-pound) chicken, rinsed and cut into 8 pieces

green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and quartered

garlic cloves,

sour orange, split in half (see notes)

culantro (see notes)

mint leaves

water

salt

black peppercorns

For the Chicken Meatballs

yellow onion,

green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped

achiote paste

unsalted butter

corn masa mix,

culantro, finely chopped (see notes)

mint leaves, finely chopped

sour orange juice (see notes)

Cilantro and mint leaves

For the Chicken: Place chicken in Dutch oven or large soup pot. Add onion, pepper, garlic, sour orange, culantro, mint, water, salt, and black pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, skimming surface occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer chicken to large plate. When cool enough to handle, use paper towels to remove chicken skin; discard. Shred chicken finely.   

Strain broth into large bowl. Discard solids and return broth to Dutch oven.

For the Chicken Meatballs: Place onion, bell pepper, and cloves in bowl of food processor and pulse until mixture is a fine paste. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion mixture and annatto and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to large bowl.

Add corn masa mix, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 cups strained broth, culantro, mint, sour orange juice, and half the shredded chicken. Stir until thoroughly combined. Shape a single 1/2-inch ball of dough.  Bring broth to simmer over medium-low heat. Cook meatball until it floats to surface and taste. Add salt to masa mixture if needed.

Shape dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and add to simmering broth. Cook until meatballs float to surface, 6 to 8 minutes. Return remaining shredded chicken to broth to heat through. Divide meatballs among bowls and ladle broth over. Serve, garnished with cilantro and mint.

You're probably familiar with the Peruvian-style ceviche made with raw seafood cured with citrus juice and aromatics. The Colombian stuff is different. It's made with cooked shellfish and shrimp, langoustines, lobster, oysters, octopus, periwinkles, or whatever gets dragged up that days—dressed with lime juice, ketchup, mayonnaise, and perhaps some hot sauce and onions or cilantro. It comes served with saltines and it's damn delicious. Here's how to replicate it at home.

Coctel de Camarones (Colombian-Style Shrimp Ceviche Cocktail) Recipe

shrimp (see note)

baking soda

juice limes

mayonnaise

olive oil (see note)

ketchup

onion

Hot sauce (such as Tabasco) to taste

parsley leaves (optional)

black pepper

Saltine crackers

Combine shrimp, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl and toss to coat. Place in refrigerator and let rest for 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine 1 tablespoon lime juice, mayonnaise, olive oil, ketchup, and onion and stir until homogenous. Add hot sauce to taste and stir to combine. Add parsley and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Set aside.

Add shrimp to medium pot and cover with 3 cups cold water. Add remaining 1 tablespoon salt with remaining 1 tablespoon lime juice. Place over medium-high heat and heat until water is barely steaming and registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer; adjust heat to maintain this temperature for remainder of cooking. Cook shrimp until pink and firm to the touch, about 7 minutes total. Drain carefully, rinse under cold running water, and spin dry in salad spinner. Add shrimp to bowl with sauce and toss to combine. Serve immediately with crackers and extra limes for squeezing.

[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] Notes: Masarepa is dehydrated cooked corn meal. It is available in the Latin section of most supermarkets in wither white or yellow varieties. This recipe calls for white, but they can be freely substituted. Popular brands...

Venezuelan-style Arepas (Arepas Rellenas) Recipe

masarepa (see note above)

vegetable oil

butter

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 325°F. Combine masarepa, cheese (if using), 1 cup water, and 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in a medium bowl and knead with hands until a dough is formed. Take a small amount and flatten it between your palms If the edges crack, knead in more water a tablespoon at a time until dough is supple and smooth but not sticky. Season dough to taste with salt, then cover and set aside for five minutes.

Divide dough into four even pieces and roll into balls. Working on a wooden cutting board or a regular cutting board with a sheet of plastic wrap or parchment paper on top of it, flatten each ball down to a disk about 4-inches in diameter and 1/2-inch thick.

Melt butter in a 12-inch cast iron or non-stick skillet over medium-low heat (see note #3 above). Add arepas and cook, moving them around the pan and rotating them occasionally, until first side is charred in spots and a dry crust has formed, about five minutes. Flip arepas and cook on second side until a dry crust has formed, about five minutes longer. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake until cooked through, about 10 minutes longer. Remove from oven, let rest 5 minutes, split, fill, and serve.

Have you ever tried Caigua Rellena? If you’re an enthusiast of Peruvian cuisine or simply...

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Top 8 latin american cuisine recipes from across the web

The most viewed latin american cuisine recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Colombian Chicken Stew With Potatoe...

Cuban Picadillo Recipe

Better Than Chipotle's Beef Barbaco...

Peruvian-Style Grilled Chicken With...

Sopa de Alb&#243;ndigas de Pollo (C...

Coctel de Camarones (Colombian-Styl...

Venezuelan-style Arepas (Arepas Rel...

Caigua Rellena Stuffed Caigua

The most viewed latin american cuisine recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Sopa de Albóndigas de Pollo (C...