Recipe - El Día de los Muertos.

This recipe is part of the El Dia de los Muertos experience, whether you bought the booklet or not, we hope you enjoy this dinner!

This is tonight’s menu.

Here below you’ll find a list of ingredients per course and per dish together with the cooking instructions. We hope you enjoy the cooking process and later on a delicious dinner with your guests.

With what to start?

When there are several meals to cook, sometimes it’s hard to know where to start.

Here is an idea of how to organize it:

You can start by rinsing your rice and letting it soak in water. Then we recommend you cut all the vegetables so that after you can focus on the cooking only. Preheat your oven to 180°. When your preparations are done, put the cauliflower and sweet potatoes in the oven so they can bake at the same time. Is everything in the oven? Then continue with the soup. Next, you can make the yellow rice. While that is cooking, prepare the black beans in tomato salsa and the tahini sauce. Then, cook the poached pears, this way they may still be kind of warm for your dinner. Finally, slice the ginger, prepare your additional toppings and at the last moment warm up your tacos or prepare the cabbage leaves.

All the meals can be reheated so take it easy, enjoy the process and add a pinch of love to it. :)

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A slice of ginger

Ginger helps to activate our digestive fire. Hence starting with a slice of ginger before the main meal is very beneficial for your system to be able to digest everything well later on.

Ingredients:

• Medium-sized piece of ginger

• Salt

• Juice of 1 Lime or Lemon
  

Instructions:

Peel the ginger. It’s easiest if you use a small spoon to scrape off the skin. Then slice the ginger very thinly, and count 1-2 thin slices per person. Add a bit of salt and some drops of lime or lemon juice to the slice and serve it. Make sure everyone has a glass of water nearby in case the ginger feels spicy or intense. Enjoy the fire!

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients: (for 4 to 6 people)

• 1 small butternut squash

• 1 onion

• 1 clove of garlic

• 1 drizzle of olive oil

• 400ml coconut milk

• 1 tbsp curry powder

• about 200ml of water or vegetable broth

• 1 pinch of powdered ginger

• 1 pinch of powdered vanilla

• 1 tsp or even a tbsp of powdered cinnamon, depending on taste

• 1 tsp of powdered sugar

Instructions:

Peel the butternut squash and cut it into large cubes. In a pot, add some olive oil, sauté the minced onion, and then the crushed garlic clove. Add the butternut squash with the spices and fry it until lightly coloured. Add the coconut milk and broth or water. Lower the heat and simmer for good 20 minutes until the squash is tender.

Turn off the heat and blend your preparation until you get a nice velvety texture, it should be very smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary with salt and pepper.

Tacos with different fillings

In the traditional celebration, there are lots of different, small dishes that are served and shared. If making all the taco fillings we listed here is too much for you, you can select just 1-2 fillings (e.g. the black beans and sweet potatoes) and buy some more toppings to add on top (see list of additional toppings to add below).

Tacos

We recommend getting some organic, wheat, or corn-based tacos from your local grocery store. If you would like a gluten-free option or a lighter version feel free to use lettuce or red cabbage leaves, slightly cooked, as wraps.

Yellow rice

Ingredients: (for 4 to 6 people)

• 500g of rice

• 100g coconut oil or butter

• 1 tbsp of sugar

• 1 cinnamon sticks

• 1 tsp of cardamon powder or 3 pods

• 1 tsp of turmeric powder

• 5 tbsp of dry raisins

• 1 tsp of salt

• 1.5l of water
  

Instructions

30 minutes before (or more), wash the rice 2 times and let it soak for a while in some water. Then, rinse it well, and put it with the remaining ingredients in a pot, add salt and water.

Bring to boil, cover it, and let it cook on a low flame for around 6 minutes. Remove it from the fire and let it steam, lid on, for another 5 minutes or until soft. Stir through the butter or coconut oil until melted. Taste, adjust, and serve.

To heat up the rice later or the following day, just add a little bit of water into a pot and bring it very briefly to boil until it’s warmed up enough. Be careful not to overcook it.

Sweet potatoes

Ingredients: (4 to 6 people)

• 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes

• ¼ tsp of garlic powder or fresh garlic (1-2 cloves finely sliced)

• ½ tsp of paprika powder

• ¾ tsp of chili powder (see how hot your chilies are and adjust accordingly)

• ½ tsp of cumin powder

• Salt

• Olive oil

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 180°. Wash the sweet potatoes. You don’t need to remove the skin, it becomes nicely crunchy when baked. Chop the potatoes into roughly 1cm big cubes, toss them into a bowl, and mix through the spices and olive oil. Spread them out on a baking tray on baking paper, and bake them for around 30 minutes or until well baked and crunchy. Stirring 1-2 in between to make sure they are evenly baked.

If you want to heat them up later or the next day, just put them in the oven for 10 minutes before serving to get them warmed up and crunchy.

Black beans with tomato salsa

Ingredients: (4 to 6 people)

• 1 can of tomatoes (400g)

• ½ a big onion

• 1 garlic clove or garlic powder if you prefer

• ½ tsp of chili powder

• 1 tsp of paprika powder

• 1 tsp of cumin powder

• 1 tsp of oregano

• Salt

• Black pepper

• Olive oil

• 1 leek or another vegetable of your choice/season (e.g. zucchini,...)

• 1 can of black beans (400g) - or use fresh ones, but soak them at least for 24 hours and then let them cook for approx. 45 minutes (or until soft)

Instructions:

While the potatoes are in the oven, start preparing your tomato salsa. Chop the onion into small cubes and start frying them on low heat in some olive oil, careful not to burn them. Once the onion becomes soft and slightly transparent, add the garlic. Then add the tomatoes and the spices and let it all simmer for around 15 minutes until all the ingredients blended well together. Set aside.

In a separate pan, heat up some olive oil, add the leek (or vegetable you chose - if you chose kale or broccoli you may want to boil it a bit first), and let it fry until tender, you can add more spices if you like, e.g. some more cumin and chili, or just season with some salt and pepper. Rinse the black beans, and add them to the veggies. Add ⅔ of your tomato salsa, and cook everything together for 5-10 minutes. The beans should be soft, with the back of a spoon stir and mash them together with the vegetables and sauce, add some water if needed to keep it creamy.

The remaining tomato salsa can be used as an additional topping.

Cauliflower with tahini sauce

Ingredients: (4 to 6 people)

• 1 cauliflower

• Olive oil

• Salt

• Pepper

• 60g smooth white tahini

• 1 and ½ tbsp of lemon juice

• 3 tablespoons of water or more

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 180°. Cut the cauliflower into medium-sized pieces. Place them on baking paper with oil, salt, and pepper. Bake for around 20 minutes until they become slightly brownish.

In the meantime prepare the sauce. Combine all the ingredients except the water in a bowl and whisk to combine. Slowly add the water while whisking until the mixture is smooth and pourable. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Pour the sauce over the cauliflower and mix it nicely together if you are serving it right now otherwise keep it apart for now. Refrigerate in a sealed container if you’re making it ahead. Tahini sauce lasts in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

If you want to heat this up later or the next day, just put the cauliflower in the oven for 10 minutes before serving to get them warmed up and crunchy. Then add the tahini sauce on top and mix well.

Additional toppings to add

In addition, you can get some feta cheese, greek yogurt or creme fraiche (or any vegan option), avocado, corn, fresh coriander, and maybe some spicy sauce or chili peppers, to add to everyone’s tacos.

Poached pears

Ingredients: (for up to 12 if you serve ½ a pear per person)

• 6 conference pears

• 1 bottle (750 ml) of dry red wine e.g. merlot

• 2 cups (473ml) of water

• 3 cloves

• 2 cinnamon sticks

• ½ cup (100g) brown sugar

• 1 vanilla bean

Instructions:

Cut a small part of the bottom of each pear off so they can sit upright. Peel off the skin from each pear, then set aside.

Set a large pot over medium heat and add the wine, water, cloves, cinnamon, and sugar. Split the vanilla bean down the middle, scrape the seeds into the pot, then throw the whole bean in as well. Add the pears, making sure they’re mostly covered by the wine, then cover with a lid and let gently simmer for 20 minutes, or until the pears are soft.

Serve warm and fresh, or store leftovers in the wine juice in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Bon appétit!

This recipe makes part of the El Día de los Muertos Experience, for more details and the option to purchase the experiential cards, have a look in our giftshop:

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