south america Archives - Jenny is baking

Arroz Con Leche -Rice Pudding from Latin America

Today I am introducing rice pudding or in Spanish “arroz con leche” and I will tell you how I got the recipe, which is a super sweet story. But first let’s talk about this dessert. Arroz con leche is an extremely universal recipe. For example, rice pudding is enjoyed in the Scandinavian countries. In fact, rice pudding is often served during Christmas season and they have created their own little traditions and customs around it. In Germany rice pudding became famous during and after World War II as a cheap main meal (I have to say, I still don’t get how a sweet dish can be served as a main meal). Rice pudding is also famous in Spain and made it to Latin America at some point. You may wonder why I am introducing this universally loved recipe here. The answer is because one reader of this blog went out of her way so that I was able to obtain the cookbook containing this recipe. But let’s start at the beginning.

21/05/2024

Patacones – Fried Green Plantains

Patacones or tostones can be described as chips made from green plantains. You will fry these beauties twice. They are often served as a side and are popular throughout Latin American. Especially countries close to the equator seem to love this little snack. Producing patacones is pretty straight forward, you will first peel, then slice green plantains and cook them in oil. Then they are smashed and fried a second time. The best part is to decide how to serve them, sprinkle with a bit of coarse salt and herbs or serve beside a dip or a nice salsa. Such a treat!

08/03/2024

12 Recipes with Dulce de Leche

I probably sound like a broken record, but dulce de leche is as popular in Latin America as is Nutella in Europe. This caramel is made from milk and sugar. You will find plentiful recipes featuring dulce de leche. It may be used as a filling or it will serve as a thin layer. It can be a simple dollop served with flan. You will be able to spread it on bread (just like Nutella) or you can simply eat it by the spoonful. I am telling you, there is a reason why this caramel is so popular. Today I will introduce twelve recipes from Latin America containing dulce de leche, one is from Russia. So which recipe is your favorite?

Let’s first start with the basic recipe for dulce de leche:

16/08/2023

Dulce de Leche Made in a Frying Pan

Dulce de leche is the Nutella of Latin America. I may sound like a broken record, but I don’t get tired of saying this. Dulce de leche is made from sweetened milk and becomes caramel. Just as here in Germany Nutella is spread on bread, you may just eat it by the spoonful or make a lot of baked goods with it, dulce de leche is used the same in Latin America. Yes, I do have fond memories of smearing dulce de leche onto bread. Jam could only be cut (and is called dulce de membrillo), so I spread dulce de leche on my bread and topped it off with some cheese. Yes, I know this sounds crezy, but I loved it. Yes, of course there is already a recipe on my blog for dulce de leche, check out how to make dulce de leche in this blog article. Essentially, we are going to boil sweetened condensed milk for long enough in unopened cans until they become caramel. This usually takes about 3 1/2 hours, so today I am going to introduce a quicker version, making it in a frying pan. This will take about 30-40 minutes. So if you are restrained timewise, this may be for you, but this dulce de leche is more liquid than the one from the can.

11/08/2023

Coffee Date No. 14: Why there are so many Latin American Recipes on my Blog

Today I am inviting you to a special coffee. I am going to explain why there are so many Latin American recipes on my blog. So grab a coffee or a tea and let me get started. You will see a traditional Colombian breakfast in the featured picture. These are tamales, which is food steamed in banana leaves accompanied by hot chocolate. Yes, this is something you will eat for breakfast in Colombia, I am not kidding. So just as this may be a very unusal coffee, I am also inviting you to grab something out of the ordinary for your “coffee”. The short answer to the original question is because I was born in Uruguay and because my husband is Colombian. Obviously both of us are interested in eating food we ate as a child. So there definitely is a nostalgic factor, for sure. But apart from the very simple and egoistic “I want to eat food I am familiar with”, I started this blog because I wanted to

A nostalgic recipe: Peach cake from my birth city Paysandú, Uruguay

04/07/2023

Choripán, Argentinian Hot Dog

Choripán argentinischer Hot Dog mit selbstgemachten Brötchen

Did you watch the Latin American Streetfood Show on Netflix? If you did, you most likely remember choripán, the Argentinian or Uruguayan version of a hot dog. When I watched the show, I remembered eating this hot dog in Buenos Aires lastly in 2016 and I was determined to make a version that also works in Germany. So I first had to find the chorizo sausage. I thought that was going to difficult, but then, surprisingly I found a small version in our regular grocery store. These were the Spanish ones, but I have to say, they taste very similar to the ones I remember from Buenos Aires. So yay to that. Next I wanted to make my own hot dog buns. I knew that they would be so much better. So I set out and tried different recipes. I was surprised when I realized that hot dog buns are much easier to prepare than I originally thought. You basically throw all ingredients together and then have to wait until you form the buns. Really not that hard. So here you go, you got homemade hot dog buns filled with a chorizo sausage (or in my case two as they were so small), the herb sauce called chimichurri (also homemade), and if you want, some red onion slices. Voilá, you have your Latin American version of a hot dog: choripán!

09/04/2021