Dominican food?

[psykoinsane]

I'm hosting book club next week and need to make some snacks for people to munch on. While I could just make anything, I like the idea of the food tying into the book. The book we just read is "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" about a family from the Dominican Republic. I tried searching for recipes for Dominican food, but haven't seen

Comments

[rosefox]

You could just do fried sweet plantains. Or tostones rellenos (fried plantain cups--you cook the plantain until it's soft, mash it into a cup shape, and fry it crisp) or arepas (little soft corn cakes cooked on a griddle) topped with guacamole and a bit of soft cashew "cheese".

Apparently you can put dessert toppings in tostones rellenos too, though I've never tried it! That also reminds me of churros dipped in chocolate and caramel (is there a way to make a vegan caramel sauce?).

I tried to find a tostones rellenos recipe that didn't have big pictures of non-vegan things, but no luck. Turn off images in your browser for a bit and google around, and you'll find lots of recipes.

BTW, I live in Junot Diaz's neighborhood, so I'm happy to do a bit more research around the local restaurants if you like!

[rosefox]

Also, I know you're not that into the idea of rice, but you could try making concón, which Díaz raved about in his article on Dominican restaurants in the Heights. (Warning: that article mentions a whole lot of non-vegan food.)

[rosefox]

More from Aunt Clara's:

Savory cracked corn (calls for milk but I expect you could sub any unsweetened vegan milk)

Okra stew

Savory unripe bananas

Okra a la vinaigrette

And eggplant is really popular in the DR--they call it the poor man's meat--so you could do slices of fried eggplant.

Oooh, and here's a vegan churros recipe! Mmmm, churros.

[psykoinsane]

Thanks for all of the suggestions! They look wonderful! I guess I didn't do a very good job searching....now to choose what to make! Those tostones rellenos look amazing. If I can find plantains I think those will have to be on the menu. Thanks again!!

[psykoinsane]

:) I think almost everyone in the book club is enjoying it so that is good. I did like it, though it took me a little bit to get into it. It was very different from what I was expecting (in a good way).

[icanseenow]

I feel bad when people like a book I disliked... makes me feel like I missed something.