habichuelas con dulce (sweet red beans and sweet potato in coconut milk)

if you like sweet red bean paste snacks, you will love habichuelas con dulce, a sweet dominican and puerto rican dessert that’s gluten-free and almost kinda healthy. you can drink it chilled, but i like to sip on hot habichuelas con dulce on a chilly day – it’s filling and sweet.

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boil a sweet potato

separately, prepare red beans (kidney beans). if using dry beans, cook til a bit overdone. if using canned red beans, use about two cans

cook with a can of evaporated milk (or a half-cup or so of milk or half-and-half) and a can of coconut milk til softer.

blend in a blender, or mash together with a fork if you don’t have a blender or food processor.

add a cinnamon stick and around seven cloves, the cooked sweet potato, sugar to taste, and a handful of raisins, and simmer on low heat til fragrant.

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recipe by friedsig, based on this habichuelas con dulce recipe

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fermented pineapple juice (mabí / guarapo de piña)

i just started making my first vinegar, a cantaloupe vinegar (recipe to follow). in the time before it got sour, it smelled captivating. i wondered how it would taste, but for some reason, i stopped myself.

never again, now that i found this traditional Dominican recipe for just that – a lacto-fermented drink which, if left out, would become fantastic vinegar!! this definitely works with cantaloupes and pineapples – please post any successes you’ve had in this!

mabí / guarapo de piña

Ingredients:

* 1 pineapple
* 2 quarts drinking water
* 1 cup sugar or equivalent sweetener

Instructions:

1. Wash the pineapple in running water scrubbing the peel clean.
2. Peel the pineapple (reserve the pineapple for other uses), rinse the peel again.
3. Put the pineapple in a pitcher big enough to fit the water and pineapple peels.
4. Cover and leave outside until you notice some froth on the surface.
5. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 days, or until you notice bubbles stuck to the sides of the pitcher.
6. Strain and pour the liquid into another clean pitcher. Add sugar to taste, ice and frozen pineapple cubes (optional).