Take a home cooking class in Cartagena

Why not try your hand at making a typical Colombian dish in Cartagena? Here’s how we felt about the experience!

 

If you’ve been following us since the start of our world tour, you’ll know that we love to cook. It’s simple: for us, discovering a country also means learning a specialty. Why? Because when you take a cooking class, you normally go to the market, taste different specialities, discover new fruits and vegetables, new flavours and scents, and suddenly the market becomes magical! You’ll also often be accompanied by a local, which means you’ll be able to interact more with the locals.

I invite you to read all our other articles on Colombia to help you prepare for your trip:

• Charming villages: Salento, Cocora Valley, Villa de Leyva and Raquira
• Medellin, what to do and where to stay in this city
• Cartagena, what to do in this city
• Santa Marta and Tayron Park, all our practical advice
• Explore the Armenia and Salento regions, renowned for their coffee production
• Playa blanca, why we are disappointed with this beach
• Budget and 3-week itinerary
• Guatapé, an unusual hotel in Colombia
• Discover Guajira and the Wayuu people

 

| THE CARTHAGENA MARKET

 

It’s the perfect place to experience the locals in action. It’s the first step to discovering the country. That’s why we’ve repeated the experience at Cartagena with the agency Duran Duran formed by Angel Eduardo and his chef wife Maria. Between them, they make a great team and will share a good time in their kitchen. This course is a little different from other cooking classes in that it takes place in Cartagena’s working-class district, and we are welcomed into their home.

The tour begins with a visit to the Bazurto market. A much more rustic, very local and even crowded market! In the company of the couple, we sample all kinds of fruit and go in search of everything we need to prepare the steamed fish stuffed with vegetables, accompanied by coconut rice, panela and the famous patacones, fried plantains.

 

 

People are very welcoming, smiling and asking to have their photo taken, which is quite pleasant for us. What I love about South America is the words of love given to each and every one: “Mi amor, Mamita, papi, amorcito..” How can you resist that?

After more than 2 hours walking between stalls of meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, we return to their home to begin the cooking class. On the menu, the typical Colombian dish: fish stuffed with vegetables.

 

 

| FISH STUFFED WITH VEGETABLES SERVED WITH PATACONES AND FRAGRANT COCONUT RICE

 

Ingredients for 5 people Preparation for fish garnish

1 red mullet per person 1 /4 red onion 1/4 yellow onion 1 celery with stalks 3 white onions 1 large carrot garlic, a few cloves salt

On a plate, salt the fish to taste. In the same bowl, grate the carrot and white onion into strips. Cut the white onion and celery heart and stalks into small squares. Mix everything together in the same container. Crush the garlic cloves in a mortar and add them to the mixture. Stir Open the fish and stuff with the mixture. Put a little oil in a frying pan, arrange the fish and cover. Cook the fish on the same side over low heat for 1/2 hour! Cooking is done with steam

 

Preparing coconut rice

 

Ingredients Preparation

1 coconut for 500g or 2 coconuts for 1kg panela or brown sugar raisins secs water

Remove the coconut from its shell, keep the coconut water aside and start grating. Add the coconut water to the coconut powder and mix well. Strain through a colander and collect the first juice. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar to the white juice and reduce over a low heat for 15 minutes.

 

 

For the second coconut juice

1 coconut for 500g or 2 coconuts for 1kg panela or brown sugar raisins secs water

For 1 liter of water into a shaker and add the coconut paste from the first juice. Shake, stir and pour into the colander. You recover the second juice. To the reduced juice, add 2 tablespoons of sugar or 2 tablespoons of panelas (cane sugar). Stir over medium heat for 15 minutes, without stopping, otherwise it will burn. The texture should thicken. Pour the second juice into the reduced, caramel-like juice. Soak the rice in water to rinse and retain all its flavor. Add the rice to the new pan so that it cooks in it. Add 1 spoonful of salt. The rice should be cooked for 30 minutes and should not boil. Once the rice has reduced, make a small hole in the middle, add the raisins and mix. Place a plate over the rice, cover and cook for a further 20 minutes on a low heat. turn the rice in a single motion with a tablespoon to stir. Fill the spoon with rice, then turn directly… Repeat several times.

 

Preparing patacones

vegetable oil plantains or green bananas 1 garlic clove water and salt

Peel the plantains and cut into 2. For 500ml vegetable oil into a frying pan. Heat over low heat Soak the bananas and wait for them to brown. Remove from oil and flatten with a flat surface. La tremper dans un bol d’eau avec un peu de sel, 1 gousse d’ail puis faire refrire la banane plantain environ 1 minute Drain and blot the oil

 

And now the dish is ready to be served, enjoy it with your guests!

 

Before you leave, don’t forget to read all our other articles on Colombia to help you prepare for your trip:

• Charming villages: Salento, Cocora Valley, Villa de Leyva and Raquira
• Medellin, what to do and where to stay in this city
• Cartagena, what to do in this city
• Santa Marta and Tayron Park, all our practical advice
• Explore the Armenia and Salento regions, renowned for their coffee production
• Playa blanca, why we are disappointed with this beach
• Budget and 3-week itinerary
• Guatapé, an unusual hotel in Colombia
• Discover Guajira and the Wayuu people