Nicaraguan Taste + Indio Viejo

Indio Viejo resembles the bond between Mayan and Spanish culture, for centuries this has been a meal in every Nicaraguan table. It's one of the most known dishes in Nicaragua after Gallo Pinto. Originally made with goat meat, this recipe has been handed down trough generations, and each one of them have added something new to it. Vibrant and classy, Indio Viejo has represented Nicaraguan cuisine as no other.

I personally love it, is one of my all time favorites, and I think that you'll love it too. Some ingredients might be very hard to find depending where you live but if I found the ingredients here in Bergen Norway you have a big chance of finding them all!

Hope you enjoy it!

serves 4

For this you will need

1 kg Shoulder top blade steak
1 Green bell pepper
3 Tomatoes
1 Onion
3 Garlic cloves
A handful of spearmint
Maseca (corn flour)
Achiote
Salt

To cook

Cut the meat in thick slices, in a pot pour in 1 Lt of water, put the sliced meat on the pot and bring to the boil, once is boiling take away any foam and blood, once is not producing any foam add  salt to taste a quarter of the bell and half of the onion together with the 4 garlic cloves peeled.

After leave the meat on a medium-low heat and boil further for an hour, sometimes the meat can be hard, if so it can take up to an hour and a half.

Mean while get slicing the tomatoes and the onion
and the bell pepper you have left.

When the meat is tender, take off the stock and set aside to cool, then proceed to crumble the meat slices as shown in the pic at the left, after you've done that is time to do the Maseca (corn flour) batter

Keep the beef stock as you will use it for the batter. Use a colander to separate the stock from the vegetables.

                                                                             

Achiote paste

 This corn based dish, hasn't been always done with
 corn flour, originally made with tortillas, it really depends on the taste of the maker, my mother likes the fine smooth texture that gives the corn flour to this dish, other people like the flavor of a tortilla.
In some parts of the country this method is used regularly.
People leave tortillas in water for about 2 hours and then they mince them by hand.

However I prefer to make them with Maseca based batter because the texture is even and the flavors spread better.

To make the batter start off making a normal Maseca dough follow the instructions on the back of the bag, or follow mine if you like, pour 2 cups of Maseca and add 1 cup and a quarter of water, once you've got your dough done add in the achiote paste.

Now you've got be careful as this is one powerful natural colorant, use 1tsp of achiote, and add the stock gradually until the batter has the thickness of oil.

In a deep frying pan, add oil and fry the sliced veggies at a high heat let them fry for about 4 mins and then add the crumbled meat and lower the heat to a medium heat continue frying for a 3 mins and then add the batter, stir vigorously, if you stop stirring the batter will get hard so you've got to work it a lot.



When the batter starts to get a orange color add the spearmint and
stir a little, keep cooking for 5 mins at a low heat and then take off the heat and serve!











I hope you liked it and enjoyed it as much as I enjoy it. We serve this with fried or boil Maduro (plantain) I'll upload the recipe for the fried Maduro soon.!

Nicaraguan Taste + Gallo Pinto

In Nicaraguan traditional food Gallo Pinto is without doubt one of our signature dishes. It's one of the simplest recipes but you can tell when it's bad or it's good, a good Gallo Pinto should be colorful and moist, but most importantly tasting delicious.

Gallo Pinto is the heart of the Nicaraguan breakfast, made from leftovers, this dish goes in handy with dishes like Carne Asada, in Nicaragua we always add something extra to it, always seeking to make more flavors out of a simple and humble dish like Gallo Pinto, my grandmother adds meat leftovers and sauce from the day before when we make dishes like Carne Desmenuzada to give it more body and flavor. Through the country the Gallo Pinto recipe varies, depending whether you are in north part of Nicaragua or the south you'll probably spot many different things, but here I'll teach you the original recipe

serves 4


For this you will need

1 Onion

1 lb Red beans
1 lb Rice
Salt
3 Cloves of garlic
1 Green bell pepper

To cook

First of all, this is something you will like to do the day before you eat it, as it ensures that all the flavors get locked in the beans and the rice. The recipe is originally made from leftovers so if you want to get the real taste you'll have to wait to the next day, also because making it in one day can be very tricky!

 First put 2 liters of water in a medium pot,(keep another pan with 1 lt of water at a low heat because the beans might get dry), meanwhile the water boils get your beans in a bowl and wash them with water until the water is not dirty anymore, when the water starts to boil add the beans.

Let them boil at medium heat, cooking time depends on how hard are the beans, if they are fresh they will take from 30 to 60 mins to cook, so the fresher the better. Ensure to check constantly the beans, when they are starting to get bland and in the salt to taste, garlic and onion.

Peel the garlic cloves and with a knife make a cross in each one, that will release all the juices, and get more flavor,  peel and add half of the onion, and let it cook for 30 mins so all the ingredients do their job.
Once it's done let the beans cool, do not reheat them afterwards if you're not going to use the whole batch because beans are delicate and reheating the whole batch will spoil them, so after they are cooled refrigerate them until you use them.

For the rice recipe Click Here

Now for the real treat :

Now that you've have everything done it's time for the Gallo Pinto

In a frying pan add oil and the quarter of an onion you have left, the onion gives more flavor to the oil, we do the same with scrambled eggs to take away the odor of the egg and give some flavor.

When the onion is cooked more or less take it out, and add your beans with some of the stock keep stirring so they don't stick  and fry them for 5 mins and then with a spatula gently press the beans against the pan this will release more stock, but do not press them to much as they have to moist. After doing that add the rice mix well until the rice has absorb all the stock keep stirring for a few mins and it's done !!

So as I said we serve this with tortillas so for the tortilla recipe click here

Sorry if it's too messy, but my camera was dead and I just took the last photo when it was done, I'll try to make more so I can put out some photos to make your life easier :) I hope you enjoy the recipe.