Dominican Breakfast in my house!
Christmas day means Dominican breakfast in this house! In my family we celebrate Christmas Eve. So Christmas day is typically a lounging day. It’s the spend your day in PJs, watch movies and eat kind of day. And speaking of eating, it’s dominican breakfast on the menu around here. Formerly called Tres Golpes in Dominican Republic. It consists of many fried foods, Don’t worry, you can always get back on track after New Years!
So what’s in Tres Golpes, you ask? Well, it’s mangu (mashed plantains), fried salchicon (Dominican Salami), longaniza (Dominican sausage) fried cheese, sauteed onions and fried eggs. I know that’s more than three things but my family could never pick between the longaniza and the salchichon. So they get both, LOL!
Have you ever tried any of these foods? Wanna get a quick rundown of how to make your own yummy breakfast? Keep reading to see how my son. Anthony and I got through it. It helps tremendously to have an assistant. It is a lot of things to fry at once!
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We went to our favorite Domincan supermarket, Compare. We are lucky to have one local. But don’t worry if you don’t have one. I have seen more and more latin foods in other stores. Even BJs had frying cheese and salchichon! We got:
1 dozen green platanos,
1 large, red onion.
1 pack of Dominican longaniza
1 large Domincan salchicon
1 dozen eggs
1 pack of white, frying cheese
6 limes
1 large avocado
We started with the mangu or mashed plantains. We did a dozen platanos since we are a lot of people. We put a large pot of water to boil with a generous amount of salt. Peel and slice the platanos. Add them all in at the same time so they cook evenly.
Next is the onions. We can’t have mangu without pickled red onions. They are so yummy and so easy to make. Simply slice your red onions in rings. Then squeeze two limes in a frying pan with 2 tbs of oil. add a pinch of salt and the onions. Cook on low while the rest is cooking. Take care not to let the onions dry up. The best part is the nice sauce to pour over your mangu. Add more oil as needed.
We then moved on to the longaniza. This sausage takes a little longer than the salchicon to cook. It’s pretty simple. Just cut the ends off and discard. Then slice into bite size pieces. This is KEY for us. Large links will not crisp up. Tiny pieces will be all crisp with no meaty bite. Place them in a pan with ½ cup of water and the juice of two limes. The limes help cut some of the fat content and adds a nice zing to it. Cook covered until the water starts to evaporate. Remove the lid and let it cook on medium heat. The water will completely evaporate and it will fry in it’s own oil. I turn them every now and then to ensure all sides get nice and crispy.
While thats cooking warm up oil for you salchichon. Slice it and fry on both side till crispy. That’s it! Nice and simple.
The cheese is simple as well slice and fry. We like to dip it in corn meal for a nice texture sometimes.
By now your platanos are nice and soft. Drain them reserving one cup of the boiling water. Add one stick of butter to the pot and 1 tbs of salt. Mash them up with a masher. We leave them with some lumps. You are not making mashed potatoes! This should be a more rustic looking mash. Add some of the reserved water as you go if it is looking too dry. The trick to keeping the mangu from drying out is to add ½ cup of cold water at the very end and stir it in at the last second.
Last on the list are the eggs. These are not just any fried eggs. Have you had a Dominican make you a fried egg before? You would love it. We make them differently that you would order anywhere. They have a beautiful crispy edge with soft yolk that runs over you mangu and is heavenly! The trick is the get the oil super hot! Crack your egg in the oil. Be careful, it will splatter oil at you! Use a large spoon to bathe the eggs in that hot oil. You will see your whites completely cover your yolk. That’s it. Remove and place on a paper towel like the rest of your fried foods.
Breakfast is ready! We made avena and sliced an avocado. We didn’t need to eat the rest of the day after our brunch!
