Tasajo is a very delicious dish made from fresh beef that is rehydrated during cooking. There will be many ways to do it, for example, Cubans will rehydrate dried beef, while Panamanians will dry fresh beef. Either way, this dish is incredibly attractive, not dry and hard.
Salsa Criolla: Country Style Sauce
This is a thin but flavorful red sauce with finely chopped onion, tomato, and (at the Niña Delia in El Valle) red bell pepper. My version is a little richer due to the amount of onion and tomato and the stock reduction technique I like to use.
Chayote con Carne: Mirliton with Beef
I had this dish at what I call a food booth on Panama City’s main pedestrian-only shopping street close to the old Casco Viejo district. For those discriminating foodies who question whether the photo actually shows mirliton, you’re right, it doesn’t.
Arroz con Pollo: Rice with Chicken
Note that this dish is called Rice with Chicken, not Chicken with Rice. Like Spanish paella, this dish is more about the rice than the chicken. My Panama postcard recipe for this dish says to cut up a whole chicken, but then they show a neat molded circle of rice with no bones protruding from it.
Peach & Passion Fruit Sauce
This sauce is somewhat similar to the Salsa de Maracuja y Coco that I had with a fillet of Corvina at Verde Tropical Hotel on the island of Taboga (see photo). I came up with this sauce when I discovered S&W brand’s canned “Tropical Peaches”, which are cling peach chunks with natural passion fruit flavor.
Fried Plantain
This can be the starch for a main dish, like patacones are, or a dessert. Unlike patacones, though, you use ripe plantain, which is yellow with patches of black. When you fry them they become soft and sweet.
Béchamel Sauce
The stock you use for this sauce will depend on what you’re planning to serve it with. For seafood, I suggest either clam or shrimp broth. For my shrimp with bechamel (Camarones con bechamel), I used 2 cups of water and one teaspoon of clam base. (For the bechamel needed in a chicken pot pie, use chicken stock of course.) I used one pound of raw unpeeled shrimp for this recipe. I peeled the shrimp and added the peels to the onion. This recipe makes enough sauce for about 4 servings.
Beef Liver Steak
This is liver and onions Panama style, where the liver is pounded thin, glazed teriyaki style, and the onions still have some texture. My beef liver steak lunch in Panama was served with salad and a choice of patacones or yucca fries. Serves 2.
Rice with Lentils
This is a Panamanian method of cooking rice that uses lentils to boost flavor, nutritional value, and visual appeal. You will need a longer time to cook lentils than rice, so let’s give them a head start. Serves 4 or 5.
Cajun Food: How Is It Different
If you enjoy cooking and exploring different foods, then certainly as authentic Cajun food. Although there are a number of different models Cajun food has been established in the heart and tastes and designs are amazing. You will surely enjoy and learn about the different spices Cajun how they can affect a plate. Neither dish usually in September and would be given to approaches from generation to generation by households. When you understand the techniques behind the kitchen, you can produce excellent Cajun food.