A Nicaraguan Treat

So my street food cookbook has become popular, and now my roommate Aquila is into the idea of helping make some of the dishes.  I'm rather grateful because that means we get to eat twice as much great food.  Seriously, if you came into our house on any given night of the week, you'd think you weren't in America or that at least one of us was from another country.  I can't remember the last American thing I've cooked.  Wait, that's not totally true because on Sunday I made Skyline dip (a Cincinnati tradition) for a Super Bowl party.  Although I'd hardly count that as cooking because all you do is open cans and boxes and throw everything together.  I'm not really into that box kind of "cooking," but sometimes you need small reminders of home.

Anyway, Aquila made this Nicaraguan dish called Gallo Pinto.  We're all about improvising in this house, so she used chick peas instead of pinto beans.  But the results were still great.  It's mainly a rice dish with cilantro, chili powder, and garlic topped with tomatoes and sour cream.  I'm sold on the idea.  And it's easy, which is even better.  That seems to be the trend with this book that things only take a few ingredients and a few steps. 

I have an entire grocery list ready with ingredients just for recipes in this book.  I think I would be cooking something everyday if only I had a stocked refrigerator!