Our first My Kitchen My World country this month is Guatemala. I did not know much about Guatemalan cuisine before starting to research recipes for this event, so it was a fun challenge to learn some new recipes. Apparently two main staples of the Guatemalan daily diet are black beans and corn tortillas. This morning I started a big pot of Guatemalan Style Black Beans in the electric pressure cooker. Something went wrong with the cooking temperature and soon my yummy garlic and onion scented beans smelled scorched! I quickly figured out that I hadn't added enough water, oops! I checked to see what I could salvage and found charcoal encrusted chunks of black beans stuck to the bottom of the pot, and that was my last package of black beans. Oh-well. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, right? Right! I did find a package of dried pinto beans in the pantry and decided to use those in place of the black beans but still follow that recipe, and even my very picky husband ended up liking them!
My second Guatemalan dish was Arroz Guatemalteco -- Guatemala Style Rice, which was a delicious yet mild flavored simple rice side. During my "research" on Guatemalan recipes I read that Guatemalan food is very mildly spiced, unlike other Latin cuisines. That was just fine with my family, while I personally enjoy both mild and hot and spicy dishes, the rest of my family prefers mild, and loved this dinner.
My last dish was homemade corn tortillas which were a huge success. I could not believe how much I enjoyed these, I am usually a flour tortilla fan but these were delicious and I can't wait to make them again. My whole family from picky toddler to picky husband really enjoyed this meal so that brought a huge smile to my face. After such a great meal I will be on the lookout for more Guatemalan style recipes and foods for my family. Be sure to check out My Kitchen My World, maybe you'd like to join us for our next culinary destination -- Turkey, which we will be posting about two weeks from today. Thanks for visiting!
