Thanskgiving

My second Thanksgiving in Bolivia lasted for four days! and culminated with the best enchiladas I’ve ever made. The recipes are below.

The festivities started with a Wednesday night sleepover with my boss Kathy, her 13 yo daughter Elisa and I, so that we could wake up early to make stuffing and 'put the bird in the oven.' It was my first turkey stuffing experience ever because my sister became vegetarian when I was 8 or 9, so we never had turkey at home. At one point in explaining the turkey process, Kathy said, “y después vamos a bañar el pavo en mantequilla” (and then we’re going to bath the turkey in butter), then threw her arms in the air and shouted, “porque es una FIESTA!” (because it’s a party!).

April and Ben (from Vermont) who I lived with when I first got to Bolivia, came to dinner and there were also old people and children - so it felt right. The Vermonters illegally imported cranberries (completely unknown here) but accidentally left them in a freezer in La Paz. April more than made up for it by making an incredible, custardy pumpkin pie. Besides the berries, we had all the necessary fixin's right down to the gravy and you-can’t-find-pecans-in-Bolivia-so-we-use-Walnuts pie.

After that early dinner, I went to a second one at Becky’s house where I managed to fit in another slice of pie and a Becky/Michelle concoction they called a gobbler, after I got snooty and told them they weren’t making a cobbler, but more of a crisp. Friday night was another turkey-centered potluck dinner. Just a warning, when you put a Bolivian in charge of making turkey it gets basted in Singani (a grape-based, disgusting alcohol) and stuffed with grapes and plums, and still tastes delicious!

After a rock ‘n roll concert on Saturday night, we a big enchilada lunch at my house. I made mole for the first time ever. We had squash-black bean with mole and carrot-zuccini with enchilada sauce. The votes were evenly split between the two types, but I think the squash with mole won for sure.

We stuffed ourselves so full that we had to lie in the sun in the garden for a long time. And then we made chocolate pudding cake, which resulted in quite a bit more garden lying about.

Click the Read More! for recipes.

Mole, Bolivian style

5 large dried chiles (the ones I used were reddish)
1 tb cumin seeds
1 tsp anis seeds
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp chile powder (aji)
½ tsp cloves
¼ c sesame seeds
1 tb minced ginger
¼ c raw peanuts

1.Toast together the above for a few minutes, before the sesame seeds burn take off heat.

2 onions, chopped
8 cloves of minced garlic
½ c cocoa powder
6 tomatoes, chopped
¼ c molasses
2 c stock or water
Handful of raisins

2.Saute onions, garlic and cocoa in a little oil for 2 – 3 minutes.
3.Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add toasted spices and things, molasses, stock and raisins and cook for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust spices as desired.
4.Remove from heat and blend until smooth, using extra stock or water as necessary. If you’re hard up for electrodomesticos (eg a blender or food processor) like me, you can start out with everything chopped fine or use a tiny seed grinder like I did.


Enchilada Sauce

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 locoto (medium to large sized chiles, remove seeds for less spicy sauce), minced
3 tb oregano
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tb flour
1 can tomato paste
3 tb molasses
3 c water
3 tb soy sauce
¼ c chopped cilantro (I suppose this could be optional)

1.Saute onion, garlic and chiles until onions are translucent
2.Add oregano and cumin and continue to cook
3.Add flour until all oil is absorbed
4.Slowly stir in tomato paste, molasses and water. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently until sauce thickens. If it doesn’t reach desired consistency, add in 1-2 tb cornstarch premixed into a little cold water.
5.Add in soy sauce and cilantro. Adjust spices as you like.


Zapallo (pumpkin) enchilada filling

Mix cooked, mashed squash with black beans, salt, cilantro and cumin to taste.

Carrot-Zucchini enchilada filling

3-5 grated carrots
2 small zucchinis, chopped
1 bell pepper
1 onion, chopped

Sauté vegetables with cumin, cilantro, oregano and salt to taste


To assemble enchiladas:
1.Scoop some filling into tortillas, roll up and place in baking pan.
2.Cover in sauce and bake at 350 (ish) for 20 minutes (or so).
3.Serve with whatever you like; we had chips, salsa, guacamole, and yogurt with cilantro.

Chocolate Pudding Cake

Batter
Dry: Mix together very well
1 c flour
2 TB cocoa
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

Wet: In a separate bowl mix together
2 TB softened margarine or oil
2/3 c sugar

Add half of the dry, then ½ c soymilk and then the rest of the dry mix

Spread into a oiled and floured 10” pan.

Topping
½ c sugar
½ c brown sugar (or you can just use all raw sugar)
½ c cocoa
3 tb cinnamon (optional)
½ c nuts (optional)

Mix together and scatter over batter. Then pour 1 ¼ c hot, strong coffee (or boiling water) over the topping and bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until firm to touch.