COLOMBIA-3rd. Part.

Más empanadas.
I love empanadas in Colombia; they sell like tacos in Mexico. We found few other places where we can get empanadas for a great price.

-Little empanadas: $200 Colombian pesos each.
Miniature empanadas filled with potatoes, the ladies sell them at home…

-Delicias de la Mona.
Another place around the hostel where we stayed. Prices are great, taste is great: $1000 Colombian pesos each. The empanadas are filled with meat and potatoes.

-Deya’s
We decided to make empanadas. Cost $6699 Colombian pesos for 8 empanadas just with potatoes and 8 Mexican picaditas. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Corn flour
Mashed potatoes
Fried beans
Oil
Cheese
Avocado
Salsa (made with aji, tomatoes, onion)
Salt

Preparation:
1) Prepare the dough (masa) as per instructions in the corn flour package. Prepare the mashed potatoes the way you like it. Prepare the fried beans, from a can or the long way. I chose the long way but the beans I bought were not very good.
2) Make a tick tortilla (Mexican technique), place the mashed potatoes in this tortilla and fold it to make the empanada shape. -Mexican technique consists of two round plastics to place the dough in between, with one hand you will turn the plastic around and with the palm of the other hand you will hit the dough trying to flatten it until it becomes a tortilla.-
3) Place the empanada in a pan with oil.
4) Once cooked (you will see the colour changing), let it cool to drip the excess of oil.
5) Add on top hot sauce and cheese. In Colombia we were able to find something similar to jalapenos, the peppers are called “aji”.
6) Do the same thing for the picaditas, make a tick tortilla but this time cook the tortilla in a pan without oil. Once done make little pinches around and in the middle.
7) Add the fried beans, salsa, cheese and avocado.
8) Enjoy!!! This is not Colombian but I wanted to have a little taste of Mexico…

Annette’s salad (BIO-LADEN) and Diego’s steak.
This was absolutely fantastic… Diego prepared some pork chops and beef sausages, I cannot tell you the price because I did not cook. Annette surprised us with a lovely salad that I never tasted before.
It is worth mentioning that in Colombia you can find anything in small packages, for example the BBQ sauce is found in a plastic bag with a proper lid that allows for friendly transportation; remember on the bikes we cannot carry a lot and whatever we carry needs to take the road conditions, therefore glass is not friendly…

BIO-LADEN SALAD.
Ingredients:
Salad dressing.
Glass tin: olives and juice of it
Glass tin: pepinillos in vinegar (with sugar) and juice of it
Glass tin: red small onions and juice of it
Fresh orange juice
Fresh lime juice
Salt
Pepper
Package (powder): Knorr (brand) Salatkrönung (name of product) Dill (flavour)

Salad ingredients (all fresh).
Avocado
Dill
Cilantro
Ginger
Mushrooms
Carrot
Broccoli
Parsnip
Celery stalks with its green
Sweet red pepper (rote Paprika)
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Chinese cabbage
Laitue d’hiver

Preparation:
1) Mix the ingredients for the salad dressing.
2) Cut and mix all ingredients for the salad, add the dressing and serve.


Diegos’s steak.
Ingredients:
Pork chops
Beef sausage
BBQ sauce
Olive oil
Seasoning salt
Soya sauce
Garlic

Preparation:
1) Marinate the meat with the following mix: BBQ sauce+olive oil+seasoning salt+soya sauce+garlic.
2) Cook the meat in the oven if your experience is like ours, the BBQ (grill) did not work.
3) Serve with Annette’s salad.

Pizza with a stick.
A fighting/exercising stick was what we used to make the base of the pizza. Pizza was really tasty and we had two meals out of it. A year ago this would have lasted only for one meal but now we have learned to save some for the future…

Ingredients:
Dough-
3 ½ Cups of flour
1 ½ Cups of water
2 Tbsp. Olive oil
2 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Sugar
Fresh oregano
Vinegar

The rest-
Tomato paste
Sausage
Cheese
Tomatoes
Onion
Garlic
Zucchini
Red bell pepper
Aji
Salt


Preparation:
1) Easy… prepare the dough as per instructed.
2) Add the tomato sauce and on top the sliced vegetables and meat. I like to put the meat in the bottom, followed by the vegetables then the cheese and at the end the garlic so it can roast nicely. You can add a bit of salt on top if you feel the need but realistically the tomato paste already has some salt.
3) Put in the oven for about 20 minutes at a reasonable temperature, I really don’t know what temperature we used because there are no marks in the oven at the hostel.
4) Let it cool and enjoy with some wine or beer.

Meat & Potatoes, actually Parsnips.
We cooked this dish to celebrate our exit from the hostel but we actually did not leave as we supposed to. We were about to leave Hostal Medellin when Leslie, one of the folks at the hostel, noticed a problem with my bike (my forks were leaking oil). We had to stay and fix the problem but had a fantastic time and a great meal. I have to say that parsnips were another discovery for me. Thanks Leslie for noticing the problem in my bike but also for introducing me to parsnips.

Ingredients:
Beef steak
Seasoned chicken wings
Garlic
Olive oil
Butter
Soya sauce
Seasoning salt
Salt
Parsnips
Potatoes
Onions
Zucchini
Guacamole made with aji
Broccoli

Preparation:
1) The beef steaks get seasoned with garlic, olive oil, soya sauce and seasoning salt.
2) Vegetables are seasoned with olive oil, butter and seasoning salt. Except for broccoli which is done al dente.
3) The steaks are fried; the veggies as well as the chicken wings go into the oven.
4) When everything is ready we served with guacamole (easy original Mexican way but instead of Jalapenos use Aji while in Colombia. Onion+Cilantro+Avocados+Aji+A bit of salt).
5) Enjoy!!!

Buñuelos.
These are a kind of bread and cost $1000 Colombian pesos each…
In Mexico buñuelos are shaped differently, they are long and thin, almost like a tortilla but sweet.
Colombian buñuelos are delicious and greasy at the same time. Thanks Luciano for sharing this with us…

Bandeja Paisa.
People from Antioquia (departamento/state/province of Colombia) are called paisas. Bandeja paisa is the traditional dish from this departamento, prices range from $5000-$12000 Colombian pesos depending on the ingredients.
The one we had, compliments of BMW Medellin “Ruta 40” was delicious. It came with Cargamato beans, chicharron (fried pork skin), plantains, corn, potatoes and avocado. Delicious!!!
Thanks BMW Team, we got excellent service and excellent food…