A Post-Easter Colombian Dinner

Sebastian and Emily came home for a little post-Easter visit. We started the day with a 30 km bike ride to Port Colborne (and an unexpected flat tire) and a Chai Tea. When we got back home, we enjoyed cooking a Colombian dinner together. I had prepared Colombian Beans ahead of time (recipe below) and we made Colombian rice to go with the beans. I made salsa with tomato, onion, lime, cilantro, red pepper, garlic and mango and that was used on EVERYTHING. Charles made arepas out of pre-cooked white corn flour called areparina. We stuffed them with grated mozzarella cheese and a ground beef, onion, garlic, red pepper, salt, white pepper, cumin, smoked paprika and a sprinkle of smoked chipotle. Sebastian and Emily. prepared the plantain. Plantains are a starchy, tropical fruit, closely related to bananas. They are not eaten raw. They can be added to savoury dishes; however, tonight we peeled them (Charles taught us to run our knives down the plantain deep into the plantain and then peel the skin away). We heated coconut oil to 375 F and then deep fried the pieces to a light brown colour. Sebastian and Emily took charge of the frying. The plantain were cooled and then smashed with a meat pounder and then re-fried. We ate them with salsa. The whole meal was delicious and a great celebration of Charles’ Colombian heritage.