All the same words for one vegetable!  Berenjena in the Dominican Republic is grown in abundance and size and is also one of the cheapest vegetables you can buy in the supermarket.  Tasty and versatile here are 2 recipes with a modern angle to tickle your tastebuds...

Ingredients Required

• 6 medium sized eggplants/aubergines/berenjena’s
• 2 minced cloves of garlic
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• Quarter of a cup of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• Pinch of dried oregano
• Couple of sprigs of fresh green basil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

How To Make Your Eggplant/Aubergine/Berenjena Salad

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Meanwhile prick/pierce the eggplants several times all over with a fork and then place them on a baking tray
• Bake the eggplants for one to one and a half hours until they are completely soft.  Remove and let them cool off completely.  Once cool, remove the skins and chop the inside finely.  Put the eggplants into a large mixing bowl. 
• Cook the garlic with a tablespoon full of olive oil in a frying pan until soft and lightly brown.  Stir in the remaining olive oil and add the balsamic vinegar, sugar, oregano and basil until the sugar has dissolved. 
• Pour this mixture over the eggplants and still well.  Add salt and pepper to taste then cover the mixing bowl and allow to chill for at least one hour before serving.

• Preheat your oven to around 300 degrees.
• Boil the eggplant until soft and then drain well. Mix in half of  the grated cheese and toasted bread pieces/crumbs.
• In another bowl mix the cream, flour and poultry seasoning.
• Transfer the eggplant mixture into a small greased casserole tray or baking tray and then pour the cream and flour mixture over the top.
• Sprinkle the remaining half of the cheese over the top and bake in the oven for a further 30 minutes.

A great vegetarian main meal or use this as a side dish with a crisp salad.

Red beans are an integral part of daily Dominican Life. Served at lunchtime they provide a nutritious and tasty accompaniment to many meals.n Typically served with rice and a side salad with a piece of chicken, pork or beef.

Ingredients Required

• 1lb dried red beans
• 1 large red onion cut in small pieces
• 4 diced garlic cloves
• 1 diced green bell pepper
• Half a cup of chopped celery
• Half a cup of fresh cilantro (corriander) note: leaves only no stem parts
• 1 tablespoon of fresh oregano (if you cannot find fresh dried will do but use only a pinch of dried)
• Half a cup of fresh parsely note: leaves only no stem parts
• 2 oz of cooking oil (olive oil is best if you have it)
• 2 chicken stock cubes
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon of white vinegar

How To Make Your Fabulous Stewed Red Beans or Habichuelas Rojos Guisadas

• Wash the beans well and then cover with cold water and allow to soak overnight
• Drain, and place beans in a pot along with the 2 quarts of water and 2 chicken stock cubes, bring to the boil and then lower the heat to allow beans to simmer and cook (when cooked beans will be soft to the touch)
• When cooked, turn off the heat, set the pot aside and let the beans sit in their liquid
• In a frying pan heat up the oil and saute or in Spanish sofrito the red onion, bell pepper, garlic, celery, cilantro and oregano
• When the vegetables are soft, add this to the pot of beans and return to the stove and heat up again gently

Your stewed beans are now ready to serve with or on the top of some fresh steamy white rice

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds of chicken
• 2 pounds of pork chops
• 1 pound of "tocino" (salt pork, spanish sausage)
• 1.5 pound of goat meat
• 1 pound of sausage
• 4 large plaintain bananas
• 2 pounds of yucca (cassava, tapioca, manioc)
• 2 pounds of malanga
• 2 pounds of spanish pumpkin
• 2 pounds of sweet potatoes
• 5 corns on the cob
• 2 pounds of white yam (taro)
• 6 liters of water
• 1.5 tablespoon of oregano
• 5 coffe spoons of salt
• 2 tablespoon of "naranja agria" (these are oranges that are very, very sour)
• 2 green bell pepper (cut in four pieces)
• 1 medium size onion
• 1 coffee spoon of garlic (smashed)
• Some leaves of parsley
• Some leaves of cilantro
• 1 tablet of chicken bouillon
• 2 tablespoons of white vinegar
• Worcestershire sauce (English)

How to prepare the ingredients:  

The day before (to save some time) you can cook the meats and store them in the refrigerator. The best way of cooking them is:

• Cut the chicken in different pieces, wash the chicken with "naranja agria" taking out the skin and excess grease. Add onions, garlic, bell pepper, English sauce (or soy sauce), tomatoes and salt. After half an hour, cook the chicken without adding tomato sauce. Add more water than usual so that you can use the resulting sauce. Do not let get the chicken to become too tender. When done, save it in the refrigerator.
  
  
• Cook the pork chops and goat in the same way as the chicken but cook them separately. Add more water than usual so that you can use the resulting sauce. When done, save it in the refrigerator.
  
  
• Cut the "tocino" in small pieces (half an inch) and pass it through hot vegetable oil (to give a nice color). Add some water and cook. Do not let get the "tocino" to become too tender.
  
  
• Cut the sausage in small pieces (half an inch each) and fry the pieces. Save the vegetable oil.
  
  
• Peel of the yucca, plaintain bananas, malanga, spanish pumpkin, sweet potatoesand white yam and cut them in samll pieces. Put them in salt water so that they do not become black.
  
  
• In a large pot (or two medium size pots) put the salt and the water. Add the onions, bell pepper, leaves of parsley and cilantro, spanish pumpkin, corn, plaintain bananas and malanga. When they are getting tender put all the other vegetables, the meat and the "sauces". Add two tablespoons of the oil in which the sausage was fried, "naranja agria", vinegar, garlic, check the salt. Do not let the sancocho to get too thick.
  
  
• Put the spanish pumpkin in two portions: the first one to add thickness to the "sancocho" and the second to eat with the sancocho. If some vegetables are too tender, take them out. When the sancocho is done, put them in again. When done, you can serve the sancocho with rice and add picante sauce (Tabasco, for instance). This recipe is good for 18 portions.
  
  
• oregano = oregano, wild marjoram,winter sweet
• cilantro = coriander, cilantro
• auyama = spanish pumpkin, butternut squash, winter squash
• puerro = leek, green onion

I couldn’t resist slipping in this spicy little salsa, Mango’s are available seasonally in the Dominican Republic, and are delicious just eaten on their own bought by the roadside, served and sliced with ice cream or just left to chill in the fridge and then peeled. Try the salsa to spice things up a little...

Ingredients Required

• 4 fresh mango’s, peeled and then diced
• 1 hot red pepper, jalapeno if you can get it, seeded and chopped (if you prefer a super hot salsa then keep the seeds)
• Quarter of a cup of olive oil
• Quarter of a cup of fresh chopped cilantro/coriander leaves (no stem)
• 2 minced cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons of lime juice
• Salt and Pepper to taste

 How To Make Your MangoMama’s Mango Salsa

• Grab a large bowl
• Simply put all the ingredients together and mix really well
• Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator overnight
• In the morning uncover the bowl and you are ready to serve the salsa

 This salsa is great used as an accompaniment to grilled or BBQ chicken and meats.Try oven roasted vegetables with this or just simply dip in some corn chips and enjoy yourself with a cold Presidente beer!