Bedolla-Garcia Rice & Beans
For sophomore Micaela Bedolla-Garcia, rice and beans is a meaningful dish to her and her family. “It kind of means how we got here because it’s Cuban, but with Spanish influence. My family originally came from Spain, then to Cuba, then to here,” she said. Bedolla-Garcia lovingly associates this dish with her grandmother because she often eats it at her grandparents’ house.
One of Bedolla-Garcia’s fondest memories surrounding rice and beans was “20 of (her) cousins, all around the table, eating the same dish, like 10 years ago.” She feels that this dish is an important key aspect of her family, and it makes her happy thinking about it. “It just makes me smile,” she said.
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
• Black Beans
• Bell pepper
• Onion
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Bay leaf
• Oregano
• Vino seco
• Vinegar
• White rice
Instructions:
1. Soak a pound of black beans and one bell pepper overnight in water.
2. Boil for an hour.
3. Add sofrito: bell pepper, onion, and garlic cooked in olive oil, salt, pepper, bay leaf, and oregano.
4. Boil for another hour.
5. Add vino seco and vinegar.
6. Boil for one more hour.
7. Serve over white rice.
Englund Entomatadas
Entomatadas, a Mexican dish made with tortillas, tomato sauce, eggs and sometimes beans are a favorite for freshman Alma Englund. Her father’s family originally made it in his native Mexican city, Oaxaca, and her mother learned how to make this dish from his family. They generally eat this dish as a meal for breakfast.
“It usually just reminds me of Mexico and my family there,” Englund said.
Englund grew up in the Bay Area, but goes to visit her family in Oaxaca often. “It’s a really cool place, it’s really beautiful, (and) it’s very cultural. (Oaxaca) very much still has a lot of native people.”
A memory that stood out to Englund surrounding this dish was “when (her) grandma came to visit from Mexico, maybe a few years ago, and she made this for (Englund and her family) one morning.”
Ingredients:
• Onions
• Fresh or canned tomatoes
• Salt
• Garlic clove
• Mild/medium chile
• Whole epazote leaves
• Tortillas
• Cooking oil
• Queso fresco
• Cilantro
• Sour cream
• Eggs
Instructions:
1. Sauté some onions, then add fresh (peeled) or canned tomatoes.
2. Add a little bit of salt, a garlic clove and/or a mild to medium chile.
3. Cook for 10 minutes at medium heat, then blend.
4. Next, add 5-10 whole leaves of epazote.
5. Cook tortillas in a little bit of oil and briefly soak them in the sauce.
6. Fold the tortillas on a plate with a little bit more sauce on top.
7. Serve 2-3 tortillas per person, topped with queso fresco, thinly sliced onion, cilantro, and Mexican sour cream. The dish is usually served with eggs.
Acosta-Ferezi Fried Shrimp (Camarones Empanizados)
“Your parents might make you chicken tenders or something, but we would eat fried shrimp,” said senior Annamaria Acosta-Ferezi. Acosta-Ferezi’s grandparents in Tijuana, Mexico began making fried shrimp, or camarones empanizados, because her grandfather owned a fish business and restaurant. “My family would eat a lot of seafood because it was what (my grandfather) dedicated himself to.”
When eating this dish, the she thinks of her grandmother and how this particular dish connects to her. “It was the last thing my grandma cooked for us before she passed,” Acosta-Ferezi said. She reminisced about going to her grandmother’s house and how her grandmother would have food ready and prepared at all hours of the day. “She would have a pot filled with food or soup and she would make you anything you wanted. … Even if she was really tired or sick, she wouldn’t hesitate and she would just cook for you.”
She associates this dish with childhood and feels that it has the ability to “bring out your inner child.”
Ingredients:
• Peeled shrimp
• Flour
• Eggs
• Milk
• Bread crumbs
• Garlic salt
• Pepper
• Cooking oil
• Ketchup
Instructions:
1. Dry some peeled shrimp.
2. Cover shrimp in flour.
3. Beat eggs and milk to make egg mixture.
4. Then, cover shrimp in egg mixture.
5. Make breadcrumb mixture with breadcrumb, garlic salt and pepper.
6. Cover shrimp in breadcrumb mixture.
7. Fry shrimp in cooking oil.
8. Serve with ketchup.