Burger with Spiced Beans, Chorizo Stuffed Tortillas, Sour Orange Sauce and Fresh Salsa
It is interesting to look at a single country through the eyes of multiple sources, just to get a sense of the overall world and who’s spinning what (although figuring out truth is sometimes challenging). If you look at what the BBC says about Honduras, the language is pretty harsh with emphasis on corruption “huge wealth gap” and an overall lack of security. Compare with CIA World Factbook and the New York Times and they talk more about turmoil and focus on how Honduras is helping the US in the drug wars. So, in an effort to cut through the crap, I’m going to stick to numbers/facts as much as possible.
Honduras a Central American country bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. It has coastline on both the Pacific and Caribbean. The Spanish conquered the Maya in the 16th century and during Spanish rule Honduras was a province of the Kingdom of Guatemala. Honduras achieved independence in 1821. Now let’s fast forward to modern times.
courtesy of CIA World Factbook
courtesy of CIA World Factbook
The current situation in Honduras, no matter who is spinning it is not great. They have the 9th highest income disparity rate in the world and 60% of the population lives below the poverty line. In addition they have the highest murder rate in the world – that’s right, the highest. Because security is so problematic, the Peace Corps suspended its program in Honduras – they just didn’t feel like they could keep their people safe.
On the positive side, Hondurans have benefited from increased interest in adventure tourism. Honduras is a natural destination for adventure tourism. There’s white water rafting, zip lining and cliff diving and lots of unspoiled beautiful land. So let’s hope that they get security under control, because I would love to add this to the vacation list.
By Dennis Garcia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), via Wikimedia Commons
By Dennis Garcia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
In general, Honduran food is made from simple ingredients that grow locally and flavored with peppers and spices. Citrus is used widely since it grows wild. The food is not typically spicy but is quite flavorful. Hondurans have a condiment called chismol that is similar to salsa but uses bell pepper rather than spicy peppers. Beans are an important source of protein and are part of most Hondurans daily diet.
These are pretty basic ingredients in Central American cuisine, so the challenge here was to do something new. I’ve found that when you combine beans and pupusas, the big challenge is to make sure that you add moisture into the totally dish. So I decided to take the local flavors and create a sauce that would bring the whole thing together. The great thing is that citrus makes a perfect base for sauce. My original intent had been to use sour oranges, but my local store didn’t have any in stock, so I had to make do with limes and regular oranges. The sauce was tart and slightly sweet with earthy overtones from the cumin and anchiote. The funny thing is that the sauce in the picture above isn’t the right one – it’s a home made BBQ sauce that I made for ribs the night before. I grabbed the wrong sauce when I was doing my beauty shot – now I’ve learned to re-taste everything before I shoot the beauty burger. I dug out the right sauce though, so the picture below with the recipe is the correct sauce and it is delicious.
Somehow when it all came together the result was a hearty but not heavy dish. The tortilla and beans were rich and heavy, but between the chismol and the sauce the whole burger was brightened up and the effect was surprisingly complex and layered.
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Honduras Burgers
1 pound 80% ground beef
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
4 Pupusas (recipe here)
Spiced Beans (recipe below)
Sour Orange Sauce (recipe below)
Chismol (salsa) (recipe below)
In medium glass bowl combine ground beef, salt and pepper. Form four patties and grill in a non-stick pan until they reach desired temperature.
To serve start with a warm papusa, add a scoop of Spiced Beans, then the cooked burger. Add a couple of tablespoons of Sour Orange Sauce and a scoop of Chismol.
Spiced Beans
½ cup onion diced fine
1 small pablano pepper minced
¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
1 clove of garlic minced
1 chicken Maggi cube
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 can small red beans rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Water
Put everything in a medium sauce pan with just enough water to cover the vegetables and beans. Stir and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer vigorously for 20 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
Sour Orange Sauce
8 small limes juiced (about 2/3 cup)
2 Valencia oranges juiced (about 1/3 cup)
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground anchiote
¼ cup angel flake coconut
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1 Tablespoon water
Combine first 6 ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Make a slurry of the cornstarch and water. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Turn the heat up and bring to a boil. Remove from the saucepan from the heat and cool to room temperature.
this is what the sauce really looks like!
Chismol
1 large tomato diced fine (about 1 cup)
½ cup minced onion
¼ cup minced green bell pepper
Juice from ½ lemon
Mix all ingredients together and let sit at room temperature for at least ½ hour before using. Stir before using.
- Honduras Burgers
- 1 pound 80% ground beef
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- 4 Pupusas (recipe below)
- Spiced Beans (recipe below)
- Sour Orange Sauce (recipe below)
- Chismol (salsa) (recipe below)
- Spiced Beans
- ½ cup onion diced fine
- 1 small pablano pepper minced
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- 1 chicken Maggi cube
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 can small red beans rinsed and drained
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Water
- Sour Orange Sauce
- 8 small limes juiced (about 2/3 cup)
- 2 Valencia oranges juiced (about 1/3 cup)
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground anchiote
- ¼ cup angel flake coconut
- 1 Tablespoon corn starch
- 1 Tablespoon water
- Chismol
- 1 large tomato diced fine (about 1 cup)
- ½ cup minced onion
- ¼ cup minced green bell pepper
- Juice from ½ lemon
- In medium glass bowl combine ground beef, salt and pepper. Form four patties and grill in a non-stick pan until they reach desired temperature.
- To serve start with a warm papusa, add a scoop of Spiced Beans, then the cooked burger. Add a couple of tablespoons of Sour Orange Sauce and a scoop of Chismol.
- Follow directions from package to make batter for 8 tortillas. Form four balls out of the batter, then poke a hole in the ball and stuff as much grated cheese as you can (you can also use chorizo browned and out of casing if you want). Close up the hole then mash the tortilla with your hands until it is relatively flat. I did a final pass over with a rolling pin to get even thickness – at the end of the day you want the tortilla to be about ¼ inch thick. Cook the pupusas in a dry cast iron skillet until lightly browned on each side. Serve hot.
- Put everything in a medium sauce pan with just enough water to cover the vegetables and beans. Stir and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer vigorously for 20 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
- Combine first 6 ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Make a slurry of the cornstarch and water. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Turn the heat up and bring to a boil. Remove from the saucepan from the heat and cool to room temperature.
- Mix all ingredients together and let sit at room temperature for at least ½ hour before using. Stir before using.
