colombian week - meal plan

why colombia? i wrote a post here about my deep and connected travels through colombia - the food, the experience, and the love that grew into a dozen+ years of love (so far!)

breakfast
omelette with salsa
fried eggs with beans (can of beans done with chopped spring onions, cilantro and bbq sauce
yoghurt and fruit
fruit salad
rotate

snacks
aji
fruit leather
dessert bars

supper
arroz con chorizo
arepas con salmon
bistec colombiano

sancocho

tostada lasagna

this menu created several leftover meals -
sancocho - approx 8 adult servings,
tostada lasagna 5-6 adult servings,
salmon topping was used in 1 further meal,
rice with chorizo was good for a full meal and as a side.

i am adding this weekly meal plan to I'm an Organizing Junkie, where hundreds of weekly meal plans are hosted during Menu Plan Monday...lots of ideas, and things to aspire to during the rest of the week.

aji - colombian week

(looking a bit foamy after i attacked with the hand blender to blend the tomato a bit more, but it settled into more of a murky colour accented by the ingredients)

oh aji (ah-hee) - so simple and so perfect.
i love spicy food, and i have to admit that the first time i went to colombia i was surprised at how little fire was in the food.

instead there was a lot of meat, a lot of fish, a lot of grilling and pan frying, a lot of beans and chicken and rice, hearty soups
- all seasoned well
....but...decidedly un-spicy.

then i tried the most miraculous of condiments - aji
aji is spicy
lights up the plainest dishes
so easy
so good
and i looked for years for a recipe that reminded me of the aji i had with pretty much every meal possible every time i visited colombia.

and a few weeks ago...I FOUND IT!
i made it and this was it,
i was back in a small cafe eating chicken and rice and beans drowned in aji (i know i used a lot of it...the locals commented on my profound enthusiasm for it.

so here it is...and only one modification - it's not easy to get habanero peppers in season right now around here so i used two tiny red thai chilis (half seeded - they are hard to completely seed) instead...

aji recipe

colombian week - kind of like pandebono, kind of not

(final product...)


i tried to duplicate these wonderful, cheese filled buns that dh and i used to get from a street vendor in the candelaria district of bogota

it was just him
a grill
and these corn buns stuffed with cheese (similar to mexican queso blanco)
and aji on the side
the vendor made these tin foil swans - put the piping hot bun in and lots of space for scoops of aji (part of tomorrow's recipe)

you can see my attempts through photos and ingredients - simple ingredients - not purely authentic, but tasted pretty close....we ate all 7 of the buns i made in one sitting - 1 by the 3yr old, 3 each for dh and i - topped with aji i made several times during the week.

recipe - made 7 buns
1 c mozzarella cheese cut into 7 good sized chunks
2c masa flour (precooked corn flour)
1 egg
2c warm water
dash of salt
- mix all but the cheese with your hands in a bowl


- form into balls
- take a piece of cheese per ball and push it in

- reshape the ball so the cheese is completely covered in the dough


- lightly spray or brush with oil or cooking spray

- cooked these in the toaster oven at 350 for about 15min

- top with aji and serve

sancocho - fish stew, colombian style

I used this recipe for sancocho - but I made a lot of modifications.

could not find azafron so i used more cumin and turmeric instead
i also used 3 white potatoes in addition to
the yucca...


and plantains...



also, could not find fish stock
so i used a vietnamese pho base that had shrimp and other seafood flavours in it
i also added a leek (because i had 2 leeks in the fridge that had to be used up and - well - i love leeks in soup)
i used tilapia for the fish

i also used my slow cooker so i could just prep and toss everything in
cooked on high for 3hrs and low for 1 seemed to soften the potatoes and yucca and the crockpot did its magic in terms of getting a really smooth fish flavour throughout the soup...


so i took pics, but duh forgot to take one of it as a bowl of soup

i did however take a pic of the sancocho being used as leftovers with rice and topped with aji (i saved the broth as my 3yr old loved it!)...


this recipe yielded enough for 6 full meals for 2 adults, several bowls of soup for the 3yr old and lots of tasting and lip smacking from the 10mth old - cost-effective and a smashing success. was great as leftovers without the broth too! this is going to be a winter staple for us - so much goodness and so many meals from one recipe!