There is nothing like experiencing a culture through the dishes eaten by the natives of a country. In my personal experience, cooking South American food using North American ingredients was a challenge. Something as simple as a salad ended up becoming a soup when using vinegar to give flavor to a salad. In South America, there are vinegars that are so concentrated that we dilute with water in order to be able to eat them in green salads. As a result, I used the vinegar in the USA as if the concentration was the same. The result was a swimming tasteless lettuce salad. Since that experience, I make a dish very carefully after tasting, smelling or asking others who have used the products to determine if anyone has used them before in a dish similar to mine.
Today, I would like to give you a dish that is very popular with Cubans if I remember correctly. The dish is called Vaca Frita:
Ingredients Needed:
Flank steak
1/2 of green pepper
1 1/2 onion
3 Tablespoon of garlic
a pinch of cumin
1/2 lemon
oil to fry
Salt to taste
How to prepare Vaca Frita:
In a pot with water cook the flank steak with the green pepper and the onion. when the meat is cool to the touch shred the meat by separating the fibers. Then, saute 1/2 onion slices and the garlic. Next, add the shredded beef and add the cumin and the lemon juice.
Serve with rice,plantains and red or pinto beans.
¡Buen Apetito!
