Buenos Aires Staples: Sarkis and Sudestada

Sarkis and Sudestada are my two favorite BA go-to's.  Whenever I need cheap, tasty, and different my move is Sarkis.  Whenever I need spicy (and I mean bad ranking in guiaoleo because Argie's can't handle it spicy) I go to Sudestada.  Definitely give both these a try if you haven't yet and be sure to order the following items:

Sarkis - falafel and chicken or lamb fierro/kebab/whatever it's called COMPLETO with the yogurt on the side.  The yogurt is amazing, thick, doesn't exist in BA style so it's a must on the completo, but you need to ask for it "a parte" or you'll get screwed by an excess of it drenching everything.  

Sudestada - the jalapeno cocktail, the grilled rabbit, and the curry special.  Ask for extra picante if you like spicy because it's LEGIT, almost borderline too spicy for me, but a welcome change from typical argie fare where carne picante empanadas may as well be dulce in my opinion.

Both places are winners and not to be missed.

Chicken kebab completo 

Spanakopita

Falafel

Yogurt on the side

Fish balls - AMAZING

Grilled Rabbit

Green curry chicken

Mexican Fiesta Revisited

My favorite Mexican dish to cook is a Mexican Lasagna.  Not very traditional, I know, but it's everything I love about Mexican food all in one awesome dish so I can't help myself from making it time after time.  I usually get one chance to make this classic after each visit to the US because I bring back enough corn tortillas, spices, etc for a one time use.  So to celebrate the agotaring of my stock, I invite all the peeps over and have a feast.  This time I made Mexican rice and homemade refried black beans to go along side.  Check out the recipes below and get cooking!

Stewing the chicken in tomato sauce

Cooked chicken before shredding

Shredded chicken

Rice before adding liquid

Sauteed onions for beans

Cooked onions ready to add to beans

Chicken filling

Mexican Lasagna

A bit of everything

Somehow hats got involved

And we all took a turn with the hats

Mexican Lasagna - Ingredients and directions can be found in my previous blog post.

Mexican Rice - I was inspired by this recipe (ignore the website name), but use all the stewing liquid from my chicken to cook the rice.  Whatever faltas, add water.

Refried Black Beans - 500 grams of dried beans soaked overnight.  Rinse them and cover with water.  Bring water to a boil and then simmer until cooked through.  About 2 hours.  I boil them with some salt, garlic powder, chili powder, and bay leaves.  Drain once done and return to pot.  You can do this a day ahead of time if you want.

In a separate pan saute chopped onion, garlic, a jalapeno in about a 1/4 stick of butter.  When the onions are cooked through, add to beans and mash until they are re-fried looking.  This is probably not the technique whatsover, but it's my interpretation.