I suppose that most of the food at Iberostar Bávaro won't be Dominican but I want to know what it is so that I can identify it when I see it.
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| Malta con leche condensada |
BuzzFeed has an article on "
What to Eat and Drink in the Dominican Republic" that lists 45 dishes and drinks. In the realm of drinks they mention the local beer,
Presidente, which is supposed to be the only beer available at Bávaro Suites, the rums by Brugal and Barceló, and the herbal potion Mamajuana. Then there is
Malta, a sweet malt beverage like Pony Malta, which is mixed with sweetened condensed milk, creating a beverage that rivals the English gypsy tart in sugariness. Hard on its heels is
Merengue Soda, a cream soda from the local Refrescos Country Club beverage company. A final Dominican drink is
Morir Soñando which is orange juice and sweetened evaporated milk, which have to be kept at a low temperature so they don't curdle.
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| Pastelon de Platano Maduro |
Then the savory dishes and you can find recipes for many of these dishes on the website
Dominican Cooking. We might as well start with the starches.
Plantains. The Dominicans boil and mash up green plantains into a dish called
mangú which is served topped with pickled onions alongside fried egg and fried salami for breakfast. They also fry green plantains into
tostones and mash fried plantains with garlic and chicharrones into
mofongo, a Puerto Rican dish that has become a Dominican staple. Finally there is a
Pastelón De Platano Maduro which is mashed sweet plantains layered with ground beef and cheese. I'd like to try that.
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| Casabe bread |
Yuca or
Casabe. Yuca is served stewed or boiled and fried as in Colombia but it is also made into
casabe bread, a very typical staple used by the Taino Indians that were native to the Dominican Republic. Because yuca is more indigenous to the Caribbean than is corn, it was used for making bread instead of corn. Yuca or plantain and other root vegetables also replace corn masa in the tamal-like Dominican
pasteles en hoja, which are wrapped in banana leaves rather than corn husks. These are mainly made at Christmas so we might not run across any. Then there are
Bollitos de Yuca (Cheese-Filled Cassava Balls) made with mashed yuca, stuffed with cheese and then fried.
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| Majarete |
Corn is used in a few typically Dominican dishes like
majarete, a pudding made from fresh corn, milk and sugar and flavored with cinnamon. There is also
gofio, which is roasted corn meal mixed with sugar and eaten as a snack. Next there is
chenchén, cracked corn pilaf which is the Dominican take on the Haitian
Maïs Moulu (corn grits typically served at breakfast with avocado and fish or eggs). Unlike the Haitian dish,
chenchén is dry like pilaf and not to be confused with
Maiz Caquiao or
Chaca (Cracked Corn Pudding) which is like the Colombian
mazamorro.
Chenchén is often served with
chivo guisado or
habichuelas guisadas.
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| Moro de habichuelas |
Moving on to the next starch:
Arroz!
Chofan is the Dominican version of
chow fan or Chinese fried rice.
Asopao is a soupy rice dish that can be made with chicken or shrimp.
Locrio is a Dominican paella made with chicken or pork.
Moro de habichuelas is rice with black or red kidney beans (
Moros y Cristianos) and
Moro de Guandules is rice with pigeon peas.
To see what a Dominican restaurant might serve that is typically "Dominican", look at the menu for
El Canuco in Santo Domingo.
