15 Latin Meals So Good That Everyone Should Try Them
We recently asked members of the BuzzFeed Community about their favorite Latin meals their parents made for them growing up. Here's what they had to say:
1.Pupusas
"As a Salvi, pupusas of course! It’s a handmade tortilla stuffed with various fillings. My favorites are always revueltas, which are stuffed with meat, cheese, and beans. Gotta have the curtido on the side and a horchata."
—jenn
2.Fufu de plátano
"My favorite Cuban meal has to be fufu de plátano with vaca frita. It was always such a treat when my mom made it."
3.Ojaldas
"My mother and her family immigrated here from Panama. I am Afro-Latina, so our culture is mixed with Latin and Caribbean. My grandmother used to make ojalda or Panamanian fried bread for breakfast when I was growing up. It was my favorite, and no one in my family makes it anymore. She passed when I was 10. I’m 31, and I can still taste the memories of breakfast at her house."
—Anonymous
4.Menudo
"My dad to this day will still make menudo! The whole family goes over, and he makes a side of crunchy, buttery bread to go along with it 😋. I love mine with all the toppings: onions, oregano, and lots of lime!"
5.Tamales
"Every Christmas, my grandma would (and continues to) make tamales. Everything she makes from scratch. She makes tamales de frijoles, queso chihuahua, carne de puerco rojo, carne molida, and pollo verde tamales. SO GOOD!!! And every New Year’s Eve, she makes homemade buñuelos too!"
6.Champús
"My favorite thing my parents made is Champús with empanadas for the holidays. Champús is a traditional cold beverage in Colombia that is pretty unique. It is made with dried maize, pineapple, mashed lulo, panela, cloves, cinnamon, and orange tree leaves. The combination of the sweet drink with the savory empanadas is delicious. I look forward to it every Christmas."
—Anonymous
7.Enfrijoladas
"My favorite was enfrijoladas. Just fried corn tortillas (fresh from the market), cooked again in seasoned refried beans, served with crema, cotija, and cilantro."
8.Birria
"Birria. Rice and beans were part of every meal, but in our home, birria was for special occasions. I'm talking about old-school, back-to-farm style birria, where you would barter with it kind of good. They would spend days prepping this meal because my dad would butcher the goat at home and clean it for three days before even seasoning it or cooking it. By the time this meal was ready, my parents had people from hundreds of miles away asking for a piece. As time went on and they got older, they stopped making it. It was too labor-intensive, and they never passed down the recipe."
—Anonymous
9.Sopa de fideo
"My favorite meal my parents would make is sopa de fideo but we always called it 'macaron' because it was usually elbow macaroni toasted with a little oil and chopped onion pieces. Then add water and tomato sauce, simmer until the macaron got tender and soft...BAM! Instant meal for five people. Add some hamburger meat, and you have 'Mexican spaghetti.' I still make this as a comfort meal and now serve it to my toddler."
—Anonymous
10.Arroz con gandules
"Arroz con gandules. A simple dish that my dad always made that always hits the spot. Yum."
—Anonymous
11.Curtido
"My mom used to make me Guatemalan curtido! It’s basically a pickled salad with cauliflower, potato, green beans, carrots, onion, bay leaves, and beets that give it a lovely pink color. Typically, you put it on Guatemalan enchiladas, but I used to eat it by the bowlful because I loved it so much."
12.Asado de Chile Colorado
"Homemade flour tortillas and Asado de Chile Colorado (with dried Hatch chiles shipped from an uncle). Followed by sopapillas dipped in honey or cinnamon sugar for dessert. It was a lot of effort for my mom to make these all from scratch and with ingredients that were hard to get, so this was a rare treat."
—Anonymous
13.Tamarindo
"Not necessarily a dish but a drink. My abuelita would always make me a tamarindo. I have issues regarding texture with my food, and that’s a huge side-eye problem from one side of my family, but my abuelita was always patient with me. She always had that drink ready for me knowing I probably wouldn’t eat anything."
14.Ceviche
"Always a hit in my household."
—Anonymous
15.And finally, casamiento
"My dad and abuelitos almost always had casamiento on hand (stored in a Country Crock Butter container, obvs). My family is Salvi, and our version was essentially refried beans mixed with rice, but I’m fairly certain other Central American countries make a similar dish that goes by a different name. It’s creamy, savory, surprisingly filling, and alwayssss hits the spot. Now that I’m an adult, it's a budget-friendly staple and one of my go-to's when I’ve got leftover beans and rice in the fridge."
—Anonymous
