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 sòs; 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 sòs)
• 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
• ¼ 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 ½ 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