CIEE Cooking Competiton

Melissa Caldas - Brazil

PANQUECA DE CARNE - Hamburger Pancakes

The recipe that I choose was pancakes, but not the pancakes that they are used to have here in America. The pancakes that I have in my country have meat in them and are not for breakfast, they are for lunch or supper. The ingredients were easy to find here, so I asked my mom for the recipe and she sent me the one that I wanted and a few more. It was a new experience for me to cook, and I could practice what I had learned on my foods class on my first semester here. My family and I decided to invite a family who are our friends to enjoy the Brazilian taste. With the pancakes I made some Black Beans and rice, and while I was cooking, the smell made me feel at home for a while. Even though I had to throw away the first pancake dough and call my home in Brazil to ask for new directions, the result was really good. And everyone who was here had a good time and enjoyed it a lot. Now my family is probable going to ask me to cook supper sometimes, since my food was so good!

INGREDIENTS

For the pancakes: 

1 Egg
1 cup of milk
1 cup of flour

For the filling:

1 pound of ground beef
2tbsp. oil

For the Sauce:

2 tbsp. of tomato sauce
1 ½ tomatoes
1 onion
½ green pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter
Grated mozzarella

To prepare the pancakes, put all ingredients together and mix them well. Grease a frying pan and turn the stove to a low temperature. Put a small amount of the pancake dough in the center of the pan. Make it fine but too much because it can break. Make sure you cook both sides.

To make the filling, just fry the ground beef in pan into a hash. Then put some of the meat in the center of the pancake and wrap it. (The amount of meat is dependent on the size of the pancake. Just make sure you can wrap it.) Place all wrapped pancakes in a baking dish.

Heat oven to 350° and prepare the tomato sauce!

Cut all vegetables in small pieces. Heat the butter in a frying pan and sauté the onion until they are golden brown. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for another 5 minutes. Then mix everything in a blender.

The last step is to put the sauce on top of the wrapped pancakes. Add some mozzarella on and put the dish in the oven until the cheese melts.

ENJOY IT!