Dominican Seafood and Dumplings in Coconut Sauce

As far as Dominican food goes, it's easy to believe that such a small island has a homogeneous national cuisine.  In fact, to think that actually is partially correct. There is a basic sazon (seasoning) that is used all over the country and a huge shared repertoire of braised meats, casseroles, soups, and stews.  However, if you take a closer look, there are some important regional variations.

The Cibao Valley region is known for its heavy use of plantains.  In the Southwest, near the border, there is more Haitian influence, so food tends to be somewhat spicy, whereas traditional Dominican food is anything but spicy.  In the capital, there are many more immigrants, so beloved dishes such as quipe (the Dominican version of kibbeh), and tipili (Tabbouleh) from Lebanese immigrants, as well as chofan (chow fan) from the Chinese immigrants first entered the Dominican kitchen there and are now enjoyed all over the nation.

Finally, in the East, where there is the highest concentration of sugar plantations, there is much more West Indian influence from the cocolos (West Indian immigrants) who came to cut sugar cane before the cane cutting labor force became primarily Haitian in the mid 1900s.  There is also more Haitian influence for the same reason.  As a result, there is a greater use of flour preparations, such as dumplings being added into sancocho (as they are in similar Haitian dishes) and full dumpling-based dishes (such as domplines ahogados) as well as johnny cakes, or yaniqueques from the West Indian influence.

In Samana, West Indian-influenced favorites include ginger beer and conconete (sweet spiced coconut bread rounds) in addition to yaniqueques.   Samana (in the east), because it hasan abundance of coconut trees, and I believe the highest concentration of coconut trees in the world, is famous for dishes using coconut milk.  Among these dishes is  their famous pescado con coco or fish in coconut sauce (see past post), which has become beloved all over the nation.

So, as I was looking up information about the Southwest, I came across a recipe from the region. The recipe was for something I'd never had before, domplines sancristobaleros (San Cristobal style dumplings) or Domplin de PicaPica (picapica is the name for sardines sold in a spicy tomato sauce). These dumplings are in finger-like oblong shapes and are added to a stew of shrimp, sardines in tomato sauce, corn, coconut milk, and Dominican sazon.  Dominican sazon consists of about a 1:2 ratio of parsley to cilantro, along with onion, garlic, cubanelle pepper, oregano, tomato paste, and sometimes celery and/or celery leaf.

End result--a rich, lightly creamy, flavorful broth with tender seafood and dumplings.

This recipe was adapted from:
http://es-es.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=137750072935213 (you can find a photo here as well)

Domplines de PicaPica

Ingredients for Stew:
1 smoked pork chop, cubed
4 cans of sardines in tomato sauce (I prefer without bones, if possible, otherwise, you can opt to leave the bones or carefully remove by hand)
1 lb of shrimp
1/4 cup or just over of diced onion
1/3 cup or so of finely diced cubanelle pepper

half a habanero or scotch bonnet pepper (Since pica pica is not easily found in the US, we have to make it spicy ourselves)

3 or 4 cloves of garlic
2 tsp chopped cilantro
1 tsp chopped parlsey

1/2 to 3/4 can of corn (or get the half size can), drained

1 can of coconut milk

2/3 - 3/4 cup of water
1 TB fresh lime juice
a pinch of oregano (less than 1/8 tsp)

salt 

pepper

Dumplings
1 Cup of flour
warm water (or you could use milk, but that's not the traditional way) to form dumplilng dough
1/2 tsp baking powder (optional--traditionally, Dominican dumplings are harder than American, but I prefer more tender ones and baking powder helps with this)
salt
oil (butter would likely make them even more tender, but oil is traditional)

Water for Boiling Dumplings
2-3 cloves of garlic, slice in half or smashed
5 sprigs of cilantro
salt
oil

Directions:
Bring to a boil a pot of water with cilantro, garlic, salt, and oil.  Meanwhile, mix 1 cup of flour with water, oil, salt, and baking powder.  Drop the dumplings into the seasoned boiling water, stirring occasionally.  Let boil until they rise to the surface.  Remove from the water and set aside.

Sautee the onions and peppers, salted, over medium low heat until translucent.  Add in the garlic and herbs and sautee for about 20-30 seconds.  Sometimes I like to add 2/3 of the herbs in now and add the rest just before adding the coconut milk.

Add in the cubed smoked pork chop and sautee a bit for it to pick up the flavor of the sazon.  Add in the corn and lime and sautee until it has a chance to absorb the flavors.  Add in the water and the shrimp and sautee until almost cooked.

Add in the habanero pepper, four cans of sardines, with the tomato sauce they are canned in.  Remove some of ingredients from the stew (preferably the shrimp so they don't overcook) to make room for the coconut milk to be distributed.  Add in the coconut milk and gently blend it in.

Add in the reserved dumplings and let the dish sautee a bit so that the flavors blend.

Taste for salt and pepper and enjoy!  Serve with tostones (twice fried green plantains--if you are clueless on this, comment and I'll help) and a slice of lime to squeeze over the top.

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