Vegetarian recipes from Dominican Republic

Meatless Dominican cooking turns on three starches available all year: rice, plantain and tropical roots such as cassava, yam and taro, boiled and then served with a thread of oil and raw onion. Red or black beans, simmered with squash that thickens them, supply the pulse. The aromatic base is sofrito: pounded garlic, onion, pepper, culantro and dried oregano, softened in oil before anything else goes in. Lime and vinegar close nearly every preparation, including boiled vegetables such as okra salad.

The main meal is eaten at midday and is built as one plate where white rice, beans in their sauce, and a vegetable or salad each take their share. Plantain changes role with ripeness: green, it is boiled and mashed for breakfast; ripe, it turns sweet and is fried. Pods and leaves hold a quiet but constant place, okra, chayote and aubergine, cooked in salted water and seasoned after cooking rather than during. Thick soups of mixed roots replace the single plate when the weather cools.