With Thanksgiving right around the corner, celebrate with some authentic Mexican fall recipes.
For most people growing up in a Latino community and family, food plays an essential role in their culture. They use food as a way to celebrate love, customs and family. Growing up, my mother made dishes that held our family’s history. Each one has its own special story. When I was younger, my mom would be in the kitchen during the colder seasons, making her sacred recipes to bring warmth to our stomachs and our souls. I want to share those cultural recipes and that warm feeling with all of you with the three recipes below.
I want to share those cultural recipes and that warm feeling with you all in a three-part series leading up to Thanksgiving. Below we have the third and final recipe. Here is the link to the first and second recipe in case you missed it.
My Mother’s Arroz con Leche (Mexican Rice Pudding)
Arroz con Leche is a famous universal dessert that many cultures have taken in and adopted as their own, making changes to adjust to their culture. It originated from Muslims who passed it down to the Spaniards and it eventually made its way to Mexico. This recipe is special to my family and it has been passed down from generation to generation. My mother and her family grew up in poverty in Mexico and couldn’t afford much so this recipe was the only “luxurious” dessert they could make, so when my mother and I feel like treating ourselves during the colder seasons, we made this “poor man’s rich dessert.”
Servings: 5 people
Est Time: 35 min
Ingredients:
1 cup of jasmine rice or any long grain rice
3 and ½ cups of water
3 cinnamon sticks
2 cans of evaporated milk 12 oz
1 can of sweetened condensed creamer 13.8 oz
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Ingredients:
- In a medium-sized pot and heat on low, pour the ½ cup of water and add the 3 cinnamon sticks and wait until the water turns lightly brown.
- In a separate bowl rinse the 1 cup of rice and drain the water out and put it aside.
- When the water turns lightly brown take out the cinnamon sticks and throw them away and add the 3 cups of water onto the pot.
- Add the pinch of salt and put heat up to medium and let the water boil.
- When the water starts to boil add 1 cup of rice in and turn the heat to low and cover the pot with a lid.
- Let it cook until rice is tender, check the bag of rice time to see how long the rice will need to cook.
- When rice is cooked, add the 2 cans of evaporated milk onto the pot and add 1 of the sweet condensed creamer, and stir (make sure to stir, or else the creamer will get stuck on the bottom of the pot and burn.)
- Stir until milk, creamer, and rice are mixed together. If it’s not sweet enough to your liking, add the 2 tablespoons of brown sugar then stir until blended.
- Then after boiling on low heat turn off the heat.
- After stirring add a teaspoon of brown cinnamon on top of the rice and you’re ready to serve and eat.
These are just a few dishes that meant Fall for me growing up. It wasn’t pumpkin pie, hot cocoa or squash soup but my mother’s traditional dishes that represented memories from my family and ancestors.