Christmas Recipes from all the NPH homes!

Christmas Recipes

Mexico 
Tamales Recipe:
 � 7 cups fresh corn kernels, from 7 ears
� 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter
� 1/2 cup granulated sugar
� 1 egg
� 1/2 tablespoon salt
� 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
� 1/2 cup harina de maiz (dried corn flour) 
� 20 dried corn husks, soaked in warm water for 30 minutes
 Instructions:
� Working in batches, add the corn kernels to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.
� In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until pale. Add the egg, salt, and baking powder. Mix to incorporate. Add the flour and pureed corn and mix until blended and forms a loose, smooth dough.
� Put a corn husk lengthwise in front of you with the wide side closest to you. Spread 3 tablespoons of the dough all over the bottom half (wide side) of the corn husk, leaving about a 1-inch-wide border on the left and right sides. Pick up the 2 long sides of the corn husk and bring them together. Roll both sides of the corn husks in the same direction over the filling.
� Repeat with remaining corn husks and dough. Arrange the tamales, seam side down, in a steamer and add 1/2-inch of water. Cover with a tight fitting lid, bring to a simmer and steam for 1 hour, adding additional water, as needed to maintain 1/2-inch of water in the pan. Remove the tamales from the steamer to a serving platter and serve.
"The tamales we eat at Christmas time taste great, and they make it with love. All of us look forward to it!�

Haiti
For Christmas, the meal served at the FWAL home of Kay St. Louis is �diri djon djon cole ak poi congo� or rice with pigeon peas with a mushroom base; �poul fri en sauce� or fried chicken in a s?s; and �salad wous� or Russian salad. This salad is a mixture of 3 key root vegetables � potatoes, carrots and beets. To drink, the children are served orange juice or lemonade. 
Rice with Pigeon Peas in Mushroom Base:
� 2 cups of white rice
� 1 cup of pigeon peas
� 1 cup of dried black mushrooms
� 1 finely chopped onion or finely chopped leek
� 1 chopped sweet green bell pepper
� 1 tbsp of butter (cooking butter)
� 2 chopped cloves of garlic
� 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
� salt and black pepper to taste
� 1 bouquet of parsley
� 3 sprigs of thyme
Directions:
1. Cook the beans, bouquet of parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in 4 cups of water for 2 hours or until peas are tender in a medium pot
2. Drain the beans but keep the water which will be used to cook the rice; put the peas aside.
3. Check the mushrooms for small rocks and sediments. Boil mushrooms in small pot for 10 minutes or until water turns black. Drain the mushrooms and discard. Keep the water to be used to cook the rice.
4. In large pot which will be used to cook and simmer the rice, sautee the onion (or leek) and green pepper in the oil.
5. Add the beans along with salt and pepper to taste. Add 2/4 of the water used to cook the beans and all the water from the mushroom and bring to a boil
6. Add the rice and thyme and allow mixture to come to a full boil cook for 15-20 minutes or until all water is absorbed.
7. Uncover pot and sprinkle with oil, sprinkle with some of the remaining water used to cook the beans and simmer for 15 minutes.
8. Remove thyme and serve.

Fried Chicken In Sauce (Poul fri an s?s)
� 8 Medium sized fryer chicken drumsticks
� 1 large onion sliced in rounds or crescents for cooking and garnish
� 1 leek mashed
� 1 large minced pepper (mild or hot depending on your taste)
� several cloves of garlic, smashed or minced
� 3/4 cups of tomato paste
� Pinch or two of brown sugar
� generous pinch of salt or a ground chicken bouillon cube
� black pepper
� 1 cup of lime or lemon juice or sour (green) orange juice
� ? cup of oil
� 3 tablespoons of mustard (yellow or brown)
� 2 tablespoons of vinaigrette salad dressing
� 2 cups of water
Directions:
1. In a bowl combine salt, pepper, mustard, vinaigrette, garlic and leek and 2 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice. Combine mixture well to create a marinade. Cover and set aside.
2. Wash chicken well with rest of the lime or lemon juice and pat dry. Rub each piece with the mixture in the bowl.
3. Heat oil in a heavy pan (cast iron is best as the heat is distributed evenly).
4. Fry the chicken pieces in hot oil turning periodically to brown on all sides (a few minutes at each turn)
5. Chicken may stick to pan. Use spatula to turn so as not to remove skin.
6. When fully brown, add the onion rounds and minced pepper to the pan, stir well. (Save a handful for use as garnish).
7. To lift sticky pieces, add a few teaspoons of water and cover immediately. Remove from fire for 30-40 seconds.
8. The chicken should be well browned. Drain excess oil.
9. Combine the tomato paste with 2 cups of water and stir into the chicken. Stir frequently to lift the browning at the bottom of the pan.
10. Bring to a slow boil until sauce thickens.
11. Transfer cooked chicken to a platter and garnish with rounds of raw onion or crescent pieces of onions.
12. Tomato sauce can be substituted for the tomato paste. Use 1 cup if tomato sauce and ? cup of water.
13. This dish goes well with diri blan (plain white rice) -- the sauce at the bottom of the pan can be poured on top of the rice. Enjoy!

Haitian Russian Salad (Salad wous)
� 4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
� 1 carrot, peeled and minced
� 1 small beet
� 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
� 2 eggs
� 1/2 cup sweet peas
� 1/2 onion, minced
� 1/3 cup red or green bell pepper diced
� 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
� 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Directions:
1. Boil potatoes and carrot in water with 1 teaspoon salt for 10 minutes or until tender.
2. Boil beet separately in water with 1 teaspoon salt until tender, then peel and mince. Boil eggs separately in water with 1/4 teaspoon salt until hard then remove shell and mince.
 3. In a bowl, place potatoes, beets, carrots, onion, red or green bell peppers and mix with mayonnaise. Add black pepper. Enjoy!

Dominican Republic
At Christmas, although we don�t have a traditional recipe to share, we serve a special meal to the children and entire NPH-DR family. The plate consists of pork, chicken, Russian salad and spaghetti. The pig is marinated in a soup like mix with garlic, peppers, other vegetables, oregano, basil and other spices for several hours. These vegetables and spices are all homegrown at our home. After the marinating process is done we send the pig to the nearby city of San Pedro de Macoris to have the pig roasted. Our oven is not large enough for an entire pig so we outsource a bakery in the city. The pig roasts for another several hours and is then brought home to be sliced up. For a similar recipe like our pig roast, please visit http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-live/roast-suckling-pig-recipe/index.html.  For a similar chicken recipe please visit http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/perfect-roast-chicken-recipe/index.html.  For a recipe similar to our Russian salad, please visit http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/russian-salad-ru305910.html. The spaghetti is simple with spaghetti pasta and a simple red sauce. Our kids look forward to this meal every year and always leave satsified and full. Sandy, 10, commented, �I can barely move after all of the food, but it is so good and I can�t not eat everything on my plate!�

Peru
Marinated Pork with rice and sweet potato (camote):
Basic ingredients: pork, onions, hot chili, garlic, caraway, salt, pepper, oil, sugar.
Blend garlic, caraway, pepper, salt, chili and oil and put the pork steaks inside and leave it for one hour. Then you fry the steaks in a pot. Once they are fried you put the marinade on. Cut the onions in strips and add the sugar. Put everything on the pork and mix it. Put the lid on the pot and cook on low heat until the onions get dissolved. You serve it with rice and camote (sweet potato).

Bolivia 
For Christmas Eve dinner we?re planning to eat a simple T-bone fried and flavored to taste with salt, pepper, minced onion and oil. It is accompanied by rice seasoned to taste with minced garlic, minced carrots, minced onions, oil and salt. We also have a salad of shredded lettuce, carrots, onion, tomato and vinegar. We drink fruit punch made with one part apple juice, one part mocochinchi juice (a fruit native to Bolivia), two parts water, and cinnamon and sugar cane to taste. 

Honduras 
For our Christmas Eve dinner we serve nacatamales. The ingredients for our nacatamales are the following: corn, lard, rice, potatoes, raisins, salsa (tomato, chile peppers, cilantro), chicken or pork meat, banana leafs
Here is a recipe you can use that is very similar to the way we prepare our nacatamales. http://www.whats4eats.com/breads/nacatamales-recipe 

Stories from Honduras #2

Check out another volume of stories written by the students of Glen Urquhart School in Beverly, Massachusetts who visited Rancho Santa Fe at NPH Honduras and learned about the various facilities at the ranch and all the hard work that goes into making this a home for the children who need it most.

Hortaliza
by Jack Hay


We walk down the never-ending rows and the dust springs up in our faces, as if to warn us. The plants are still; there is no wind to cool us. The sun beats down, and beads of sweat have already begun to form on my forehead. We walk through the fields of the hortaliza or gardens. An endless desert of rows awaits us as we put down our bags. We have to put the plants in the holes and then cover them up. Anything is easy in a small proportion. Transplanting these plants is no exception, but when you add the element of quantity, that changes everything. We are working for a good cause though, not for money. That seems to make it a bit easier for me. The orphanage is one big ecosystem. Everything makes something else work. That�s the beauty of a place like this. They don�t need outside food. They make it, and the other pro is that it�s fresh.


I begin work. The sun still lurks behind me, but also behind three layers of 50 SPF sunscreen. The plants that we are working with have been cut from the ground in another location, so we have to twist them in the holes so there is enough space. In some places the men have left more than one plant, which complicates things. As you try to hold several plants down and put dirt in the hole, there is a big margin for error.


We were given about 20 rows and we were halfway done. Katya and Cobo move toward the backpacks for a water break, and Sra. Kelley, Jenny, and I soon follow. �Can we eat these oranges?� questions Katya. �I suppose,� replies Sra. Kelley. �As long as you peel them.� The oranges in question look as if they came from a compost pile, but as Cobo and Katya peel them, they begin to look more inviting. Before I can join in, it�s back to work and the hot, blistering sun. We now plant in the rows that have been drowned by water. The holes are filled to the brim. This makes it much harder to fill them in. It makes a mud bath. I start draining the holes in an attempt to make the work more manageable and to save the plants from drowning, but the young men tell me to stop. There are about four of them helping us, the a?o familiares. They are the kids who will go into high school after their year of service.


We are almost done. There are only three more rows left. As we take a final water break, one of the young men runs down the field and the three others start throwing the hard, concrete-like chunks of soil at him. Luckily for him, they usually miss. We soon finish planting the rows. The sun has risen in the sky, and it will soon be time for lunch. We grab our bags, bid our fellow workers farewell, and take our leave of the fields. As we duck under the barbed wire fence near the road, I think about how muchwork goes into growing this food. The staff in the hortaliza is so dedicated. They work so hard for the orphans.

Tortillas
by Ra Gordon


I actually thought I already knew how to make tortillas before I went to Rancho Santa Fe. In fact, I had recently made them at home before the eighth grade trip to Honduras. Making them at the orphanage was certainly quite different than making them at home.


When we make tortillas at home, we start with something called �masa harina� that you get in little bags at the grocery store. It is a kind of prepared corn flour. We mix it into a batter with water and oil and roll out tortillas with a rolling pin. Then we cook them on a griddle, like pancakes. We usually make a batch of about eight at a time.


At Rancho Santa Fe it was somewhat different, although we did work with corn flour mixed with water, into a paste. There were four of us working together: Se?ora Cardona, Phoebe and Madison. We each took parts of the paste and would take small amounts of it, make it into the right shape, press it, and put it on the large grill. The tortillas had to be made flatter than I was used to. About six hundred tortillas had to be made, although there were other people working in the kitchen. Halfway through, we ran out of paste. We had to go back to the place where the kernels were ground. The corn kernels were in a big plastic tub and we had to wash them under an outdoor faucet. The tub then had to be carried to a small mill to grind them into flour, although we did not do that part. After that, we continued the repetitive process of making tortillas. We worked for about four hours altogether.


The next time I make tortillas at home with my family, I will remember my experience at Rancho Santa Fe. I will think of the people who make tortillas there every day, starting with the big yellow kernels from corn they grew themselves.

La Granja
by Madison Tremblay


Working on the farm was a very exciting experience. Although I was very sick that day, I still enjoyed collecting eggs, feeding chickens, and playing with the bunnies. The farm was one of my favorite workdays; it�s really cool that the Ranch sustains itself by growing and raising their own food. 


When we first arrived at the farm, we fed the chickens. Then we were able to hold the 2-week-old chicks, and they were adorable. The chicks were so soft and fun to hold, that is, if you could catch them. Next we began the never-ending task of collecting eggs. We each got a grey egg carton that held 30 eggs to fill. Each chicken coop had a different name after a certain country; one was called Honduras and another was called Alemania (Germany). When you first entered the chicken coop, it was like stepping into a room crammed with hundreds of people milling around, except instead of people these were chickens. The edge of the coop was lined with wooden boxes where the eggs were laid. Some boxes had up to 15 eggs while others had none. We went around the perimeter of the coop filling our cartons and clearing boxes. By the time we finished, however, there would be 20 new eggs laid. Those chickens can really pump out the eggs! After, we visited the bunnies, which was a lot of fun. We fed them left over cabbage from the garden and played with them. 


Finally we did one more round of egg collecting and then headed back to San Crist?bal. It was an exhausting day, but it never got boring.