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.

bistec colombiano

steak with arroz con chorizo...
i used this recipe and made a few slight modifications...
bistec colombiano
i used a leftover leek to go with the onion
i used strip loin steak
more garlic too

this was pretty good, but not as good as i had hoped. sort of a 7/10 and i try to always get at least a 9 ;)
i'm not convinced about pan-fried steak, so i think it would have been better grilled on the bbq and adding a touch of liquid smoke to get a bit of that extra grilled flavour going.

but good...worth re-working the recipe a bit.

arroz con chorizo

this was a super easy meal/side dish
i took some leftover rice that i had already cooked with a bit of turmeric and cumin (about 4 servings worth)
i used the liquid from a can of diced tomatoes, 1/2 tsp of garlic, 3tbsps chopped cilantro, about 1.5c of spanish chorizo (because i love chorizo!) sliced.

in the wok - chorizo, tomato liquid, garlic, fry for a few min
add rice and keep stirring as rice absorbs liquid
add cilantro about 2min before ready to serve.

easy-peasy and good
could add a bit of veg to make it a main, but had it as a side dish

liquid

arepas with salmon mix on top

arepas (couldn't find masarepa flour so this is what i did)
2c masa flour (precooked corn flour)
1 egg
2c warm water
dash of salt
- mix in a bowl
- form into balls and flatten to about 1cm/1/3inch thick - to whatever size you like
- fry in a pan with a bit of oil like a pancake

topping
salmon
1lb salmon fillets cooked until flaky - i drenched these in leftover sweet onion dressing
1/3 c mayo
1/4 c chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp lime juice
s+p to taste
- combine cooled salmon with ingredients in bowl, just chop the salmon down while mixing into nice sized chunks


....yum!! lots of yum this week. as arepas, not bad - the topping was delicious and the leftover salmon was used again later in the week on top of some chipotle tostadas...

dessert bars - leftover dulce de leche, jam and apple sauce too!

i really like simple breakfast bars, and i've played around with different flavours, and they all seem to work.

i put this in the latin recipes because of the dulce de leche i used ;)

2 cups rice flour
about a tsp baking powder
1.5 c rolled oats
1 cup demerara sugar or your natural sugar of choice
3/4 cup butter
2c filling - i used 1/2c leftover dulce de leche, 1c of homemade jam (some sort of plum) that a friend had given me, 1/2c of blueberry/apple sauce that the bub had barely touched

mix together ingredients except the filling.

press a bit more than half of the mixture into a greased casserole dish or baking pan.
add filling
top with rest of mix
spray oil or brush butter on top

375 oven for about 30min until a little brown.
let cool and cut into bars.

these are a whole lot of yum and was originally inspired by a recipe i used to make raspberry bars. great way to use up leftover sweet fillings like jams, apple sauce etc.

i had these a few mornings with coffee - and a few midnight+ as a snack.

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!