Real African Dishes: [MC-AllEthnic-Recipes] Bendito Recaito - Puerto Rican Trinity; 16g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber

Sunday, May 1, 2011

[MC-AllEthnic-Recipes] Bendito Recaito - Puerto Rican Trinity; 16g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber

* Exported from MasterCook *

Bendito Recaito - Puerto Rican Trinity

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 8 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Condiment LowCal (Less than 300 cals)
LowerCarbs LowFat (Less than 5%)
Vegan

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 big bunches fresh recao -- fresh and pungent
2 big bunches fresh cilantro -- also fresh and pungent
1 pound ajices dulces -- or 6 cubanelle peppers
4 heads garlic
3 pounds yellow onions

Thoroughly wash and dry the herbs. You don't want extra water in your finished product, so a salad spinner is useful here. Pick through the recao and cilantro for dead leaves, and trim the bottoms of their stems. Wash, stem and seed the peppers, and if using the cubanelles, break them into more manageable pieces, or give them a quick, rough chop. Peel the garlic (when peeling large amounts of garlic, allowing the cloves to soak in lukewarm water for an hour prior is very helpful) and onions, and cut the onions into a manageable size.

You will need to work this in batches, so divide the herbs and aromatics so that each batch gets a little bit of everything. Using a food processor, or blender, process the ingredients until the texture is within the boundaries of fine chop to coarse puree.

As for storage, you have two options. The best is to put some recaito in zippered food-storage bag, and lay it flat in your freezer until solid. Once frozen, you'll be able to snap off pieces whenever you need. Another option is to freeze the recaito in ice-cube trays and then transfer the cubes of goodness to a freezer bag, but be warned that any ice made in that tray afterwards will taste like garlic and oignons. Not a good look, if you axe me.

Serves 8

1. Recaito is named for the predominant element used- an herb called recao or culantro in Spanish. Not to be confused with cilantro, which is also in the recipe, recao has a flavor similar to cilantro but about ten times more potent. If you have no stores that carry produce for the Latino market, hit up your local Asian markets. Vietnamese cooks often use this herb (known to them as Ngò gai) as a garnish to my favorite soup, Ph?. Other recipes will tell you that substituting cilantro will work in a pinch. I will tell you no such thing, dear readers. Either you get recao, or you won't be eating good that night.

2. Ajices dulces are the traditional pepper used in this recipe. They are very similar in appearance to habanero peppers, but do not make that painful mistake! These peppers are only faintly piquant. If you can find ajices dulces in good shape, for sure get them, otherwise, a substitution here is perfectly acceptable: the Italian or cubanelle pepper.

3. It's nearly impossible to get my mom to commit to precise measurements. Thus, my recipes will rarely be exact. Also consider that sometimes the cilantro is bangin, and sometimes it ain't. The most important thing is to get a sense of proportion. Feel free to experiment as you see fit.

Cuisine:
"LatinAmerican/Hispanic"
Source:
"Cuca's Puerto Rican Kitchen puertoricankitchen.blogspot.com"
S(Formatted by Chupa Babi):
"April 2011"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 73 Calories; trace Fat (5.0% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 16g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 11mg Sodium. Exchanges: 3 Vegetable.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 927210 0 0