FREE COOKING: Hot Dog Brazilian Style

Hot Dog Brazilian Style!

I realized I have not done anything Brazilian here yet! Having been born and raised in Brazil until age 15, Brazilian cuisine has had a special place in my heart. I recently read in the book, Disease-Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right by Dr. Fuhrman MD, how we tend to crave and treasure in a special way the things we eat in our childhood. This has most certainly proven true in my life!

I often crave things from my childhood, and most recently I had been craving hot dogs! But not the ones you normally find here in the US: a hot dog bun with a plain hot dog in the middle, and packs of ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard on the side. Oh no, I've been craving some hot dog, Brazilian style! 

In Brazil whenever you go buy a hot dog or make it at home, it's definitely NOT like the traditional American hot dog! It's usually LOADED with stuff. From veggies, to cheese to potato shoestrings!

Since moving here to the US, I think I've done this only once, so it was definitely time to make it again!!!

I decided to take the route of making a tomato sauce for it! Some people will just use ketchup, but most Brazilians will make a tomato sauce to go with the hot dog. Some will even make a tomato sauce with ground beef. But I like it with just vegetables.

First I sauteed the vegetables. The traditional Brazilian way is that you always start (with most things you cook) sauteing the onions first with some oil until translucent, then you add minced garlic, after a few minutes of the garlic cooking you add the other ingredients-whatever it is you're cooking! 

In this case I added the frozen veggies I was using: corn, peas, bell peppers (red, yellow and orange). These are usually the preferred veggies for hot dog sauces.

 Once veggies were done (had sauteed until water dried out and veggies browned a little) I added the sliced hot dogs ( I left some whole aside) with the veggies. But then I changed my mind and decided to stir-fry them with that amazing zesty Italian dipping oil I always rave about![see here] :)  

So I removed the hot dogs from the skillet and added to this pan above so I could brown them a little.

Once hot dogs browned a little, I added them to the vegetables.

 Then I added the finely chopped tomatoes, and some chopped green pitted olives because Brazilians LOVE their olives!!! :) We put them in a lot of our dishes. Then just covered and let it cook a little under medium-low heat.

 Once tomatoes started to release water, I added tomato paste (1/2 small can), a few tbsp of ketchup, a little water and let it simmer a bit. Added some chipotle hot sauce and a little bit of garlic salt as well! My husband and I love spicy dishes, and chipotle sauce is a favorite here. Covered and let it simmer longer until sauce reached a thick and hearty consistency! Medium-low heat is good.

 Once sauce reached desired consistency, I turned heat off  and added some chopped fresh green onions! Fresh green onions, parsley and cilantro are also big in Brazilian cuisine. Here you could probably use any of these three or all three if you'd like! I just used green onions this time. I may have used some dried oregano, can't remember, but that would work well here too!

Got the whole wheat hot dog buns

Toast it, and then spread some Earth Balance on it. Most hot dogs and hamburgers in Brazil will have toasted bread with some butter on it!

These are some of the products I used for this meal.

Then you know what to do! Add the sauce and hot dog to the toasted, buttered hot dog bun :)

 

Oh and don't forget the mustard! You need mustard in a hot dog. As my husband said it, "mustard on a hot dog is like bike for the Chinese"! In Brazil people also add mayonnaise to it, but I usually skip that part.

 And to make this REAL Brazilian Style Hot Dog, you gotta add some shredded cheese on top (some add Parmesan), AND the one missing ingredient: crispy shoestring potatoes chips in the middle! Uhhmmmm....missed that crunchiness!!!

Uhmmm...Hot Dog Brazilian Style! Now to make your Brazilian experience complete, you gotta eat these in the company of some of your favorite people. In my case that is my super hubbah dubbah doo!

ENJOY!

BOM APETITE!:)