A little bit of Haiti at Home

Of all the things I brought home from Haiti, the thing I cherish most is a hand written recipe for Haitian Rice and Beans. This was by far my favorite of all the delicious meals that Rosita our cook made for us, so I of course begged her for the recipe. She being the sweetest woman obliged but with apologies because it is in French.

"No worries" I told her, I will just get a friend to translate. And I did. Thanks to my good friend, and faithful blog reader and supporter, George Walter! (Thanks, George)
The problem is that some important parts of the recipe were missing, and there was going to need to be a fair amount of educated guessing, to get close. But, after some hard work and even a bit of prayer and one call to Haiti I got it right!


And now I have it available for you, enjoy.



Rosita's Red Beans and Rice (with a little bit of improvisation)
Feeds about 10

Ingredients:

3 cups of white rice - picked over and washed
1/2 cup of dried red beans
Chicken and Veggie Bouillon Cubes (amount may vary, but feel lucky, cause this was what I discovered was missing when I called Haiti)
Water
1/4 cup of cooking oil
1/4lb of diced bacon
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 stalk of leeks finely chopped
Salt to taste
1 soup spoon worth of butter

Process:

1. Bring 4 cups of water to boil
2. Add Bouillon Cubes which ever you like, I added equal parts veggie and chicken
3. Add 1/2 cup of red beans and allow to sit and boil for about least 2 hours. (no need to pre-soak the beans)
4. Rinse off your rice and if you are in Haiti, pick out anything that might not belong, like mouse droppings or rocks. Measure out your 3 cups and set aside for later.
5. In a large skillet or frying pan fry your cubed bacon, in the cooking oil if you like (not sure where the 1/4 cup of cooking oil was to go, but this seemed like the only place.) while that is frying, chop up your veggies and then add them to the bacon and oil, allow to simmer all together in the hot oil. Then remove the majority of the oil leaving just enough for flavor.
6. When your red beans are soft to bite through, about 2 hours, you can pour them and the red broth into your skillet and add your 3 cups of rice.
7. I found I needed more liquid so I made more broth and added it as well, just enough to cover the rice and beans and veggies and bacon. Then cover with a lid, reduce heat to low and allow it to simmer until all the liquid is gone and rice is tender.
8. Add a spoon of butter.
9. Salt to taste.
10. Serve to those you love.

Marche' Day

Tuesday and Thursday's are the days for shopping here at the Haitian Queen (Our Headquarters/Home) Shopping in Haiti is always an experience today was no exception. Myself, Linda and Barb accompanied our cook, (I should say Chef, because she is amazing)Rosita to the local Marche' to purchase our groceries for the next few days. First we went to a small store called Deli Mart to get the meat and a few other things, on the way there I took the video below of Rosita and Miguel singing together as we drove.



After Deli Mart we stopped to buy some a box of frozen chickens and then headed to the Marche'/Market. We had no idea what to expect. We have seen markets from the car windows, but this was our first time at the market.

I have watched the Travel Channel and read tons of travel books and every travel host will tell you that you should check out the local market to know the culture. It is true of Haiti. The Market like most everything here was operating on a pile of rubble. Little stalls set up admits the debris where the locals sell produce and other goods.

Here are a picture.(more to come but not tonight I am tired.)