Join us and learn how to make tamales! Tamales – if you’re not already passionately familiar with them – are cornhusk bundles filled with masa (dried ground corn maize) and a myriad of other ingredients ranging from chicken, to pork, to beef – you could even make them vegetarian by filling them with vegetables of your choice – such as mushrooms, beans and/or sweet potatoes.
If you haven’t had the chance to assemble tamales before, you will learn hands-on & step by step how to make a good batch for your next gathering or celebration!
Learn about the foods that come from Peru’s three distinct regions – the coast, the mountains and the forest. The class will learn to cook some of the foods of the Incas, including dishes using fish, quinoa, potatoes, squash, yucas, healing herbs and more. The history of Peruvian foods and their nutritional value will also be explored.
Appetizers to dessert: a real meal made of empanadas. The word “empanadas” comes from Spanish for “breaded” and means “in dough” or that which is covered with bread. These tasty turnovers, dubbed the great food passion of South America, are filled with seafood, meat, poultry, cheese, vegetables or fruit. Maria will teach you how to make the dough and the fillings. Come and have fun making and eating them!
Learn about preparing South American cuisine that nourishes the mind, body and soul. This class will introduce you to some of the foods from Colombia, Venezuela and Peru, with dishes using legumes, quinoa, corn, squash and leafy greens. We will learn to prepare salsa fresca, arepas (corn meal tortillas) and more. Maria will share the history of South American foods and healing properties will be explored.
Maria teaches South American hands-on cooking workshops that nourish the mind, body and soul to low-income, born-in-the-United-States people who did not grow up with a direct relationship with food. Growing up with a strong, traditional relationship with food, cooking and community, Maria sees how people can achieve self-sufficiency through community gardens, planting garden beds and learning how to utilize the fresh produce they grow in healthy cooking. Her students learn that eating healthy does not have to mean expensive or complicated, and that it can be both fun and delicious to make. She believes that a healthy and rich diet is the most powerful medicine, and that it can cure almost any ailment. Maria is always excited to have the opportunity to cook together and share a meal that will not only be delicious, but also healing and nutritious!
Appetizers to dessert: a real meal made of empanadas. The word “empanadas” comes from Spanish for “breaded” and means “in dough” or that which is covered with bread. These tasty turnovers, dubbed the great food passion of South America, are filled with seafood, meat, poultry, cheese, vegetables or fruit. Maria will teach you how to make the dough and the fillings. Come and have fun making and eating them!