By Juan Guillen
Does mainstream America recognize this dish today?
In recognition of Dominican Independence day (Feb 27th)
As a kid my mother sent me once to the local bodega…Deli, where I lived in a part of Brooklyn at the time (won’t say my age), in which there were basically no bodegas, just Delis – Italian Delis – back to the story,
so I go to the Deli to buy beans, batata and Dominican cookies. As you can imagine Dominick (the local bodegero, I mean deli owner), who looked a bit Mafioso, ask me what do you want all this for? and I answered “My mom is making habichuelas con dulce”. You guessed it, I had to translate to English: beans with sugar…sweet beans with “batata” and he said fuggedaboutit!!!
So I left, when I arrived without the stuff my mom asked me to get… she took off the “chancleta” (you know what that means) I ran for my life and found a bodega (had to walk over 10 blocks but where there is a will there is a way) AND I OF COURSE, I WANTED MY FAVORITE POSTRE: HABICHUELAS CON DULCE; MY FAVORITE TO THIS DAY.
FOR THE FULL RECIPE ON PREPARING THIS MOUTH-WATERTING POSTRE, VISIT GOYA.COM
