My First Attempt at Honduran Cooking

Have you ever made a deal with someone you've regretted? Have you asked yourself over and over again, "What was I thinking?" Well...I'm not at that point yet, but I may soon be. When we first got here I made a deal with Barbe. I'll cook if she'll clean up. She and I both want to eat, as much as possible, in Honduran style. Of course that style, for a Honduran, would depend on your income. Either way, beans, tortillas, plantains, fruit, eggs, chicken and beef are the staples. So, at any rate, after asking around a bit and googling "simple Honduran recipes", I cooked our first Honduran meal.

My choice, simple being the operative word here, was baleadas and platanos fritos. A "baleada" is similar to a burrito. Start with a flour tortilla (tortillas here are not like the cardboard variety Walmart sells), add refried beans, a bit of simmered beef and onion, top with the ever present queso blanco, a white, crumbly,salty cheese, a little salsa and thin sour cream, fold and eat. Many people also substitute eggs for meat. Simple!

Platanos are plantains, a naturally sweet fruit similar to a banana.
(This photo is the actual fruit of my labor)

On a side note, yesterday all of us interviewed with Delia, the director of the language school, so that she could determine at what level to start us in our studies on Monday. During my interview she asked me what I would be doing later that afternoon. I confidently told her that I would be cooking baleadas and platanos. By the surprised, bordering on shocked look on her face, I quickly realized that was, perhaps, not exactly what I had said. Based on her explanation, or at least my understanding of it, I think I may have told her I was going to have street fighters or perhaps a couple who was in the middle of an argument in our kitchen with plantains. I know the plantains where definitely there! I'm very curious to see where she starts me.

Photos by Barbe.