Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers (50 page)

•
Serves 4

•
Time: Less than 15 minutes

•
Gluten Free, can be made Soy Free

 

6 ounces any Latin-style drinking
chocolate bars, chopped coarsely
⅓ cup water
3½ cups soy, almond, rice, hemp, or other
nondairy milk, or a combination

 

L
atin-style hot chocolate is often whisked or beaten to produce a creamy foam topping. Most famous of these special instruments is the Mexican
molinillo
which looks like the funky lovechild of a rattle and a scepter and is briskly rolled between one’s palms. If you don’t have one, don’t worry—a wire whisk or a handheld immersion blender fitted with a whisk attachment is just as effective.

 

 

 

Quiero Vegan Café con Leche!

 

B
efore there was a big national coffee chain on every corner, Americans in the know could satisfy that craving for a creamy coffee at any decent Latin bakery (especially a Cuban or Puerto Rican one).
Café con leche
is what we’ve come to know as a latte, perhaps milkier and less foamy that the stuff served at the corporate coffee joint. For a homemade
café con leche
experience, anything from a basic stovetop espresso pot to a full-service espresso machine works just fine.

 

Cuban-style Coffee
: Sweet Cuban-style coffee is fun to make at home. For authentic flavor, look for deep, dark, Cuban-style espresso roast coffee; Bustelo brand is plentiful and cheap in New York City supermarkets, for example.

 

Place 2 tablespoons (or more!) of sugar into the base of your espresso pot, brew the coffee as directed, and as the coffee drips into the pot, it will dissolve the sugar. Be sure to remove
continues
your espresso maker pot just prior to when the brewing stops to prevent the coffee from spilling over. Stir the espresso slightly, then pour into demitasse cups and serve.

 

Alternative method: If you don’t feel like sugaring up your stovetop espresso pot or machine, an easy alternative is to brew your espresso as usual and pour the sugar into a small (less than 6-ounce) coffee cup or a small milk pitcher. This cup should be just large enough to contain your entire serving of brewed espresso when finished. Drizzle in a teaspoon of hot espresso and stir vigorously with a small spoon to form a creamy paste with no sugary grit. If the sugar doesn’t completely dissolve, drizzle in a little more espresso and continue stirring until smooth. Now slowly pour the remaining hot espresso into the paste while constantly stirring. A well-made
cafécito
will have a thin layer of light brown foam, the
espumita
, on top, but if it doesn’t, you’ll still have one high-powered shot of espresso.

 

Café con Leche:
Consumed everywhere in Latin America, if
café con leche
is your ultimate destination, stir a steamed (or microwaved until hot) cup of your favorite nondairy milk into your sweet little shot of espresso. Thick creamy hemp or coconut-based (not actual coconut) milk is
fabuloso
!

 

For a complete Cubano café experience, serve with a slice of crusty bread, well buttered with your favorite vegan margarine and pressed until browned and crunchy in a panini grill (or use the technique for Cubano Vegano Sandwiches on page 66) and enjoy bites of buttery toast along with sips of sweet creamy coffee. Ahhhh,
sabroso
!

 

 

•
Makes 1 cup

•
Time: Less than 10 minutes

•
Gluten Free, Soy Free

 

1 cup sugar
1 cup water

 

1. Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to a simmer, stir, and cook for another 5 minutes, until all the sugar has been dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. To speed up the cooling process, fill a large metal mixing bowl with ice, cover with cold water, and carefully settle the saucepan into the bowl, making sure the ice water doesn’t spill over into the syrup. Let sit for 15 to 20 minutes until cold.

•
Makes 2 liters

•
Time: 30 minutes

•
Gluten Free, Soy Free

 

1 orange (preferably a Valencia or
“juice” orange)
1 lemon
½ cup simple syrup (page 218)
⅔ cup brandy
½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed
lemon juice
3 cups mixed fresh fruit, such as apple,
papaya, pineapple, mango, any melon,
strawberries, or raspberries, chopped
into bite-size pieces
1 (750 ml) bottle dry red wine, chilled
Ice cubes (optional)

 

1. Wash the orange and lemon well. Use a heavy, sharp chef’s knife to quarter the fruit and slice each piece into paper-thin slices, discarding any seeds. In a large glass pitcher, combine the simple syrup, brandy, orange juice, lemon juice, sliced orange, lemon, and chopped fruit. Stir and set aside for 30 minutes for the fruit to absorb the brandy flavors.

2. Before serving, pour the chilled red wine into the pitcher and stir into the brandy mixture. To serve, pour the sangria into 16-ounce glasses and use a large spoon to ladle in plenty of fruit. Serve immediately. If desired, add a few ice cubes to help temper the alcohol.

•
Serves 1

•
Time: Less than 10 minutes

•
Gluten Free, Soy Free

 

¼ cup loosely packed whole mint leaves
(remove stems)
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 tablespoons simple syrup (page 218)
2 tablespoons light rum
Ice cubes
Chilled club soda
Mint sprigs or thin lime slice, for garnish

 

1. Place the mint leaves in a tall, narrow glass and add the lime juice and simple syrup. With either a muddler (special bar tool for these things) or the opposite end of a long wooden spoon, gently crush the mint while stirring the juice and syrup into the leaves. Do this for about a minute, then add rum. Pile in ice cubes and pour in enough chilled club soda to almost reach the top of the glass. Top off with a mint spring or lime slice and a swizzle stick. Stir and sip and contemplate the joys of drinking your greens (minty greens, that is).