Eliseo Espaillat A.K.A Cheo
"Right now we are making white rice, chicken, plantain, corn and pastelitos. We do not use too much oil because mostly everything makes its own oil. After I moved here from New York City, I was forced to learn how to cook because if not I would be struggling. Because like you noticed, we live where? In the freaking Boondocks.
My friends and me do pot lucks every other day. Everyone puts in something and when I don’t have something, they usually do and because of that we eat a lot. We share with each other. We also make sure to teach each other our different recipes because we all cook differently.
I’m from the Dominican Republic originally and plantain is a traditional food from my home. You have to peel them, cut them into a circle shape and then double fry them. You throw them in there the first time flip them, wait until they get soft, mash them and throw them in the oil again to double fry them. That’s how you know they are really cooked.
Seasoning our food is really easy because my mom makes homemade sofrito. By the way I learned all of this from my mom. She puts all the greens and vegetables; for example onion, garlic, peppers and she blends them, put them in a container and I just put them in the fridge. That way, every time I make some meat, I just have to put some of it and it taste just like if she made them. "