Food Fest Recipes

"Brigadeiros" from Brazil

by Pietra Gois Camargo

Ingredients

• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder (or chocolate Nesquik)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Chocolate sprinkles, or any other you prefer

Directions

1. In a medium non-stick pan, combine the condensed milk, butter and cocoa powder on medium heat and mix it well.
2. The mixture thickens after about 10-12 minutes. Once you can run a silicone spatula through the mixture without it running back together for 2-3 seconds, it is done.
3. Pour the mixture onto a lightly greased plate and let it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
4. In the meantime, place the sprinkles in a bowl.
5. Once chilled, the mixture is ready to roll into little balls. Add a little butter to your hands so it won't stick, then form a tablespoon-size of the chewy mixture into a small ball.
6. Roll it over the sprinkles and, voila! Enjoy!

"Biryani" from Iraq

by Sabaoot Esho

Serving size: 5-7 people

Ingredients

• Cumin
• Ginger powder
• Turmeric (for yellow coloring and flavoring)
• Black pepper
• Biryani spices*
• 5-10 chicken breasts/tender loins (thawed)
• Diced potatoes (or substitute frozen hash browns)
• Peas and carrots (1 small bag if frozen, or 2 small cans)
• ½ - 1 cup sliced almonds
• 2-3 cups golden raisins
• Vegetable oil
• 2-3 cups white rice

*Biryani is a blend of spices that can be found online or at Middle Eastern markets.

Directions

1. Boil chicken until cooked, seasoning with ginger, cumin and a generous amount of salt.
2. Shred the chicken with a fork, remove any bones and set aside in a large pot.
3. Rinse the rice and drain at least once before cooking. *See alternative instructions if using a rice cooker.
4. To cook the rice on the stovetop, cover the bottom of a pot with oil and add the rice, flattening and spreading the rice evenly. Cover the rice completely with water where there is a quarter of an inch of water on top.
5. Add a generous amount of salt, black pepper, turmeric and biriyani spices to the pot and stir well. For every 1 ½ cup of rice, add a tablespoon of biryani spices. Turmeric is mostly for the yellow coloring, so add accordingly. Season with black pepper to taste.
6. Cover the pot, cooking on high for ten minutes. Turn off the heat, leaving the lid on the pot, until the rice has absorbed the water.
7. Add the rice to your large pot with the chicken and loosely cover with a cloth to keep warm.
8. For the vegetables, fry the potatoes with salt while separately frying the peas and carrots together with salt. Once done, add both to your large pot.
9. Soften and salt the almonds either by soaking in salt water for 5-8 hours or boiling them until easily crushed. Then add them to your large pot.
10. Next, fry the raisins by adding oil and raisins to a pan. Turn the stove on high and stir, frying for no more than 1 minute, and remove them quickly from the pan. Raisins are cooked when they are puffy and lighter in color. Add the raisins to the pot.
11. Mix rice, chicken, veggies, almonds and raisins all together in the large pot and serve warm. Preferably, serve with salad in Italian dressing or lemon juice, salt and olive oil.
    
    

*Rice cooker instructions

Cook rice as directed by the rice cooker manual. Add a generous amount of salt, black pepper, turmeric and biriyani spices to the pot and stir well. Add a tablespoon of biryani spices for every 1 ½ cup of rice.

"Arepas" from Colombia

by Isabella Bejarano

Ingredients

• 2 cups Harina Pan cornmeal
• 2 ½ cups milk
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese
• ½ stick of butter, plus extra to grease the griddle
• Salt

Directions

1. Start heating up your griddle on low heat.
2. Warm up the milk in the microwave or stovetop while you pour 2 cups of Harina Pan into a large bowl.
3. Melt ½ a stick of butter in the milk and then stir that mixture in the cornmeal. Make sure it is well mixed by integrating with your hands after it forms a dough.
4. Tear off a piece the size of a big meatball and form it into a ball. Then flatten it in the palm of your hand and put some cheese on it. Wrap the dough all around the cheese and press it in your hand until it is flattened into a circle.
5. Raise the temperature on the griddle to medium heat and grease it with a little butter.
6. Place your arepa on the griddle and make another one while you wait for it to cook. Flip it when it's golden and toasted, and keep making more until you run out of dough!

To make a full breakfast (or dinner), accompany your arepas with eggs and hot chocolate.

"Pastelitos" from Honduras

by Maria Urbina

Ingredients

For homemade dough:

• 3 cups masa harina corn flour
• 1 ½ - 2 cups chicken broth
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 2 packets of Goya seasoning
• 1 bottle of vegetable oil for frying
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cabbage, sliced thinly into strips
• 1 red cabbage, sliced thinly into strips
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 cucumber, cubed
• 1 carrot, shredded
• Shredded parmesan or mozzarella cheese
• 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce

Directions

1. Begin by filling a pot with oil, enough to submerge pastelitos when frying. Heat over medium heat. Or, use an air fryer.
2. In a pan, cook ground beef, onions and minced garlic, adding salt and pepper to taste until meat is brown and cooked through.
3. Meanwhile, place potatoes in a separate pan and bring to a boil. Once they reach a boiling point, after about 10 minutes, peel and cut into dice shapes.
4. For the dough mixture, in case you don't have a ready-prepared mix, mix all ingredients in a bowl, starting with 1 cup of chicken broth and adding more as needed. (You want the dough to be pliable and not too dry.)
5. Make balls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Place dough between two pieces of parchment paper, then use a large salad plate and press plate down on top of the dough to flatten. (If you have a tortilla press, line it with parchment, place dough inside and press into tortilla shape.) Finish by using a rolling pin to make the desired size.
6. Fill the dough with the meat mixture and pinch closed. Make sure the borders are touching.
7. Fry in a pan, or using an air fryer, for 3-4 minutes or until golden in color. Place on a plate lined with paper towels.
8. For the cabbage mixture, cut the green and red cabbages into thin strips, shred the carrot, dice the tomatoes and the cucumber, and mix together.
9. Place the pastelitos (usually 3) on a plate, top them off with the cabbage mixture, and pour a teaspoon of the tomato sauce. Finish by adding some sprinkles of shredded cheese! Enjoy!