Vanessa Mota - The Dominican Kitchen: Homestyle Recipes That Celebrate the Flavors, Traditions, and Culture of the Dominican Republic

Homestyle Recipes That Celebrate the Flavors, Traditions, and Culture of the Dominican Republic

VANESSA MOTA

As a child or even as a young adult, I was never very interested in cooking; however, most of my happiest memories as a kid are directly connected to food. Growing up in my beloved Dominican Republic, I learned firsthand what it truly means to share a meal and connect with others through food. My mornings began with a trip to the farmers market with my mom to buy ingredients for the days meals. We would walk around visiting different vendors to find the best-quality ingredients. I would watch my mom handpick each one of the items on the list given to her by my grandmother.

After we returned home, I would attentively watch my grandmother cook the days lunch with the ingredients we had just bought and then set the table for everyone to enjoy lunch together as a family. She would often make pltanos maduros (fried sweet plantains) because she knew it was (and still is) my favorite side dish. Some afternoons, she would sit on the front porch of the house and shell the pigeon peas she had bought from one of the street vendors that drove around the neighborhood selling fruits and vegetables. I would sometimes sit with her and help. She taught me how to remove the pigeon peas from the shell and pick out the ones that didnt look good. She would then clean and save the good ones for the next days lunch.

My grandmother was not a very expressive woman, but through her, I learned that cooking is a love language. I learned that you should always cook a little extra to have leftovers. I also learned that if anyone arrives unexpectedly during lunch or dinnertime, they should be immediately invited to sit at the table. A buen tiempo (In good time), shed say, a joyous and sincere phrase that invites people to share a meal. That is the Dominican way.

Whether its with a big pot of sancocho (meat and vegetable stew) to feed a crowd or the famous empaguetadas (Dominican spaghetti), even a group school project meeting turns into a culinary event. If theres one thing to know about Dominicans, its that no matter where we are or what were doing, three things characterize us: we cook, we party, and we eat. Every occasion is a celebration.

Its not a surprise, then, that as an adult I use food to build memories with those whom I love. But it wasnt always that way. For starters, I didnt learn how to cook until later in adulthood, after getting married and being pregnant with my first child. It was then that I started craving the homemade meals my grandmother and mom used to make. And although I was always around food and watched them cook growing up, I never learned how to cook myself.

It was then that my quest to learn how to cook las comidas de mi tierra (the foods from my land) started. The challenge was that my grandmother and extended family were more than fifteen hundred miles away, and though my mom was closer, she worked all day. After numerous mishaps, trials, and errors, and working through the a pinch of this and a bit of that instructions provided by my family members over the phone, I was able to start cooking the recipes I had missed.

In 2014, I started a blog sharing my recipes in the hope that it would help anyone going through a similar situation as mine and missing the meals they grew up eating. I also wanted to create an organized collection of recipes that my children could use in the future. Over time, I began receiving emails and messages on social media from people saying how much a particular recipe reminded them of home or of the moment when they first tasted the recipe.

I have developed many of the recipes I share. Some of them are my moms recipes, which she cooked with me while I took the liberty to measure and weigh every single ingredient with the purpose of writing it down. And others are adaptations from the recipes given to me by family members.

Few things have the power to unite people as food does. Theres a level of comfort and joy that surrounds us when we share a meal with someone. Plenty of laughs and deep conversations take place around the dinner table, creating moments and experiences that are undeniably priceless.

This cookbook is a collection of everyday Dominican meals, and my hope is that it serves as a resource for people who want to learn how to prepare the comida criolla (Creole food) they grew up eating, but might no longer have access to the recipes due to migration or loss of those family members who were the keepers of such treasures. It is also for those who want to pass down these recipes to their children and family members but are still working with a pinch of this and a bit of that, unsure as to the true measurements of the ingredients other than love.

Happy cooking and buen provecho!

Most of the ingredients in a Dominican pantry are common items found at grocery stores in the United States. A few ingredients are not as common outside the island, although they can often be found in grocery stores in areas with a high Dominican population, such as New York City, and even in the ethnic foods section of grocery stores elsewhere. The recipes in this book are all prepared using these common ingredients with a few exceptions for specific ingredients that can be purchased online and shipped if you cant find them in your area. Here, Ive listed the essential ingredients to keep in your pantry or refrigerator to help you create wonderfully flavored Dominican dishes.