Glossary of Ingredients

The majority of ingredients used in Spanish cooking can be found in most supermarkets. The more exotic items can usually be found in a Gourmet shop or health food stores. If there is a Hispanic neighborhood/market in your area you should also be able to find the necessary ingredients there at a much cheaper price. If you don’t speak Spanish, don’t worry, dollars is an international language all of its own.

Albondigas - Meatballs

Aroz (Rice) is traditionally long grain white rice. Even though the label tells you not to, we always rinse the rice. In some countries the uncooked rice is stir fried slightly before cooking to reduce the stickiness.

Atole - A gritty blue cornmeal drink. Also see Chauquehue

Biscochitos - Mexican word for Anise seed cookies. Careful with this term, since in some Spanish dialects biscocho means cake, but in others it is a nasty insult that should not be translated in pleasant company.

Bolillos are like bread sticks that are rock hard on the outside and inside very light almost full of air bubbles (Nicaragua).

Boniatos look like sweet potatoes but they have a white inside instead of orange. They don’t taste sweet either. They should be hard when purchased and used.

Bunuelos - Fried pieces of dough often served with honey and/or cinnamon and sugar.

Burrito - Flour tortilla filled with refried beans, chile sauce, and ground beef. They are rolled in a cylinder shape after filling.

Calupas (little boats) are fried corn tortillas topped with shredded chicken or beans, cheese, tomatoes, guacamole, and salsa. (Mexico)

Capirotada (Bread Pudding) Not really bread pudding in the common American sense but bread topped with honey, sliced cheese, raisins and cinnamon, and toasted until the cheese melts.

Chauquehue - A thick atole served as a side dish instead of a drink.

Chayote -  pale green vegetable, shaped like a pear

Chicharrones - Pieces of pork crackling cooked until crunchy and most of the fat is rendered out. Served hot or cold as an appetizer. In Nicaragua its served in a main dish with Yuca and a cabbage salad

Chicos --Dried sweet corn. Can be used whole or crushed, usually in soups.

Chile Caribe - Red chile pods pureed with with water. Additional seasonings often added.

Chile, verde (green) - Found in a variety of sizes, shapes, and hotness. If fresh remove skin before using. Also used dried and canned.

Chorizo is Spanish sausage. It is spicy and has a strong red color from paprika and hot peppers.

Cilantro is also known as Chinese parsley or coriander. It is frequently used as a seasoning in many dishes, both fresh and dried.

Chilaquillas – Tortillas are fried and cut in triangles. They are then transferred to a skillet with chile, eggs, peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc. Usually contains no meat.

Enchilada: Rolled or flat corn tortillas with meat, cheese, onions, and red or green chile sauce.

Empanada -- Fried or baked flour dough pastries with either dried fruit or meat filling.

Flan – Caramelized custard. There’s a recipe for it my dessert page.

Flautas (flute) - a taco variation I which two tortillas are overlapped and then filled with meat, cheese, onion, and chile, rolled, then fried.

Frijoles – Beans, they should always be soaked overnight before cooking. Black beans are the most common to Cuban, while Red beans are the most common to Nicaragua. They are served usually anytime you serve rice, which would be everyday.

Gazpacho -A cold vegetable soup with a tomato juice base containing a variety of raw vegetables. Usually has no meat.

Guacamole: mashed seasoned avocado

Guayaba, or guava, is a fruit. It can be found fresh in the produce section. Guava can also be found canned, in varying consistencies from large chunks in syrup to a smooth paste. A Cuban meal always ends with a piece of guava and cheese. Fresh guava should be eaten when they are yellow and slightly soft. If bought green they will ripen at room temperature in a paper bag. Though not very common, guava can sometimes be found as a frozen puree to be used in drinks, custards, or cakes.

Harina Azul- Blue corn meal flour

Harina Para Panocha - Sprout wheat flour for Indian pudding (Panocha).

Huevos Rancheros: scrambled egg on a corn tortilla and topped with a green chile sauce with onions and tomatoes.

Jamoncillo (Cream Candy) Condensed milk used as a sweet topping on breads, pastries or ice cream

Jicama -- A large gray-brown root vegetable. Often used raw in salad. Has a white, crisp meat resembling that of a potato or chestnut.

Malanga is a hard root vegetable shaped like a yam. It has a thin brown skin and beige flesh. You may be able to find it frozen.

Masa - literally "dough flour") A dough of water and masa harina. Used to make tortillas and tamales..

Masa Harina - a flour like powder used to make masa. It's made with sun or fire dried corn kernels that have been cooked in limewater (water mixed with calcium oxide). After having been cooked, then soaked in the limewater overnight, the wet corn is ground into masa harina.

Menudo - Tripe and grits.

Mole - Sauce made with red chiles, spices, and cocoa beans. Serve over meats like a gravy. Crushed sesame seed, pumpkin seed, or nuts are added in some countries for additional flavor. Sometimes also called Pipian.

Morsillo -Blood pudding made with hog's blood, raisins, pine nuts, oregano, and mint.

Naranja Agria are Bitter or Sour Oranges. In Florida they go under the name Seville Oranges. The juice is often used as a marinade for meats. I live in Pennsylvania and have never seen them sold here fresh. However, the supermarket does sell the juice bottled. Fresh, they are usually a bit bigger and darker than regular oranges. In Nicaragua, sour oranges and sweet lemons are handed out at the Purissima, a Catholic celebration for the Virgin Mary.

Natillas -  Custard topped with egg white and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Nopales - Leaves of prickly pear cactus. Resemble green beans in taste.

Pastelitos – Dried fruit pastries

Quelites - Spinach mixed with pinto beans, bacon and crushed chile pods.

Quesadillas - A folded tortilla with chile and cheese filling. It is then fried over high heat till the cheese melts and glues the two sides together.

Queso Fresco (fresh cheese) Homemade cheese made with whole fresh milk and rennet tablets. Easy to make if you can find the tablets.  Also called farmer cheese.  It is commercially availble at most Latin grocery stores.  It has a lightly salty taste and a crumbly texture.  I have seen some books recommend Muenster cheese as a substitute, but I don't think they taste anything alike.

Paella - A rice and seafood dish.

Piloncillo - Unrefined cane sugar (brown). Sold in cone-shaped pieces.

Plantains look like very large bananas. They should always be eaten cooked. Unripe plantains are green and very firm. As they ripen they turn a yellow orange color, much more orange than a regular banana. Then they turn black and become very soft, even mushy. They can be cooked in any stage of ripeness, including complete black. The darker the skin color, the sweeter the taste. The most common cooking methods are either cutting into two inch pieces and boiling with the skin on, or peeling and cutting into very small pieces and frying. Frying a green plantain yields crunchy pieces and ripe pieces yield very sweet soft pieces.

Salsa Jalapeño - A hot sauce or relish made of Jalapeño chiles, onions, tomatoes, and seasonings.

Sofrito is a wet seasoning that is fairly easy to make. However, it is also sold frozen or in the dairy case in plastic containers. It is an important seasoning for many Caribbean dishes, especially Puerto Rico and Cuba. If you make it yourself, use within a week or freeze the extra.

Sopaipillas -- Puffy, crisp, deep-fried pastry

Taco -- A tortilla folded in half and fried until crisp. When cool it is stuffed with a combination of meat, chicken, refried beans, lettuce, onion, cheese, and taco sauce.

Tamale - Pork and vegetables encased in masa dough and wrapped in a corn husk and then steamed or boiled. Recipe coming soon.

Taquitos - Same as tacos except rolled cigar style and then deep-fat fried.

Tostadas - Open faced taco.

Tortilla - In Mexico a tortilla is a corn or flour like pancake. In Spain, tortillas are egg omlets served in triangle pie like wedges.

Tostados - Corn tortillas cut in pieces and fried until crisp. Salted or sprinkled with chile powder. Similar to commercially available Nachos.

Tuna – It’s not the fish but a cactus fruit ranging in color from green to red. The moist, granular flesh is eaten raw as a dessert with lemon and sugar. It is also candied or used in desserts.

Verdolagas is a common garden weed served as a leafy vegetable. Also called purslane.

Yuca is also known as cassava in some countries. Fresh yucca has a hard white stringy flesh and a brown skin that looks and feels like bark. In some markets it is often covered with wax before selling. It is also sold peeled, cut and frozen. If bought fresh, the skin should be removed prior to cooking.