Cooking with friends! Ronpopo

This month I decided to use my blog as an excuse to check off some of my “to do” list before my time in Nicaragua is up.

I thought it would be a good idea to compile recipes of typical Nicaraguan food and drink recipes that I would like to share with others, as well as to have them in one place for myself to be able to re-create back at home.  I’ve started making “cooking dates” with some of my friends according to things that I know that they are good at making. I’m hoping to include recipes for Arroz con leche, Gallo pinto, Agualoja, Buñuelos, Nacatamales, Ronpopo, and any others that come up.

Last night Dayanna and I made a drink that is typical in Nicaragua around Christmas time. It’s very similar to Egg Nog, but has some notable differences.  She made it for Christmas the first year that I was here, and I made my dad’s famous Egg Nog so that we could compare. Making Egg Nog without a mixer proved to be a challenge, but the results of whipping egg whites for seemingly endless minutes was worth it in the end, not only for the taste of home, but the cultural exchange.

Last night our Ronpopo was a little on the thick side, and Dayanna thought it was because we were a little shy of 1 liter of milk. Most likely you won’t be buying raw milk straight from a farmer’s family, but Dayanna said that if you buy milk at the grocery store you will still cook it like you do the raw milk. Something charming (or a little annoying, depending on your mood) is that you may have to continuously pull little pieces of cinnamon out of your mouth if you go with cinnamon sticks. Try to avoid crushing the cinnamon too small.

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Here’s the recipe for Ronpopo:

• 1 liter of raw milk
• Cinnamon (we used sticks, but you could try powder if that’s what you have access to)
• 3 eggs
•  A small box of Maizena (corn starch)
• Sugar
• Rum

First set aside a ½ cup of the milk, and then boil the rest of the milk with crushed cinnamon sticks.

Meanwhile, add the box of Maizena (47g) to the milk that was set aside. You’ll also separate the yolks and add them in. Dayanna says that’s the way it’s normally done, but she just adds the whole egg. The idea is that the egg white is what gives it an “egg smell.” So make your own decision. Mix it, and then throw this mix into a blender for a moment to liquefy it.

Once the majority of the milk is boiling lightly, add the mix into the pot and add sugar to your taste. Leave this on the stove, stirring constantly, with a low flame until it starts to thicken up.

Once you like the consistency, take it off the heat to cool down. We put the pot in the pila of water to speed up the cooling.

Once the mixture is cooled down to room temperature, you can add Rum to your taste. In our case, we added about a cup of light (clear) Rum.

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Enjoy!

Love from Nicaragua,

M x

Enjoy!

Ok, up next: Agualoja! Agualoja is a fermented drink specific to Jinotega. More to come!