Avena Colombiana

Avena means oats in Spanish and avena is also an oatmeal based drink from South America that is quite popular locally. There are subtle variations in the recipe depending upon where it is prepared in the Latin American regions. However, generally rolled oats are stewed in a mixture of milk, water, cinnamon and cloves and finally sweetened with sugar.

Avena is usually served as a breakfast drink both for kids and adults though serving it as an evening snack is also not uncommon. This thick and creamy drink can be served either warm or cold, depending upon the seasons. I prepared it past this week when we had the heat wave going on and obviously, I had served it chilled.

Recipe Source: Here
Ingredients: (Yield 2 servings)
1/4 cup rolled oats
2 cups milk
1/2 cup water
A pinch of ground cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Sugar to taste

Method:
* Cook oatmeal, milk, water and cinnamon together for about 10 to 15 minutes on medium flame. Add ground cloves and sugar to the mixture and cook for about 5 minutes more.
* Let cool the mixture and chill it, covered.
* Discard the cinnamon stick and blend the oat mixture fine. Add extra water if thinner consistency is preferred. Serve it cold.

This post goes to Blogging marathon #77 under the theme "Latin American Recipes". Check out the page to read what other marathoners are cooking.

Comments

Pan de Coco - Coconut Bread from Dominican Republic

Pan de Coco is a coconut bread from the Latin region and the version here today comes from 'The Dominican Republic'. The recipe varies region wise and comes in both sweet and plain versions. This Dominican version is not on the sweet side and  instead these are 'heavy and salty' kind flat breads. According to the the original recipe, these are usually served with fish or meat dishes that have lot of sauce so that these breads are used to scoop those gravy kind dishes and soak up the juices.

These coconut breads are supposedly evolved from a combination of a recipe of 'Johnny cakes' brought by the English immigrants to the region and coconut, which is locally available in abundance. The coconut flavor is not pronounced much in this version though they are called coconut buns and coconut flakes are not an usual addition. These breads are more like biscuits with a crispy exterior and we had them hot from the oven, slathered with butter. 

Recipe source: Here
Ingredients: (Yields 6 breads)
2 & 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt (Reduce the qty by 1/2 tsp if salty breads are not preferred.)
1 cup coconut milk
2 tsp. coconut oil + extra for greasing baking sheet and palms 
1/4 cup coconut flakes (optional)

Method:
* Preheat the oven to 300 deg F. Grease a baking sheet and keep aside.
* Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Add coconut milk and oil to the dry ingredients and knead together to a dough. Grease your palms with oil and work the dough if it is sticky.
* Divide the dough into 6 portions and roll them into balls. Flatten them on the greased baking sheet, into discs of about 6 inches diameter. 
* Sprinkle the coconut flakes if using, on the top of the discs.
* Bake them for about 25 minutes or a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. They are not going to get brown but remain pale after baking.
* Once cool, they can be toasted quickly but at high temperature to brown them. (I skipped the step.)


This post goes to Blogging marathon #77 under the theme "Latin American Recipes". Check out the page to read what other marathoners are cooking.

Comments