If you made and loved our delicious carnitas recipe, you will definitely enjoy using that recipe in a healthy way!

This salad is an all-in-one package that has everything that you love to make it the perfect meal since you can build it your way! I’ll just give you an example of how we prepared it, but don’t be shy to add any other ingredient that you love.

The protein of the salad will be the carnitas accompanied by the rice in a bed of lettuce. After that, you start adding extra ingredients like corn, pico de gallo, guacamole, beans, jalapeño, onions… As you can see, let your imagination fly! Finally, add a spoonful of sour cream to complete the perfection.

Now, it is difficult to set a specific amount of grams for each ingredient, as the fun part of making this recipe is to add as much as you like of each. So I’ll give you a list of ingredients, some preparations you can make (such as the pico de gallo, guacamole and caramelized onions), and leave it to you to build your signature burrito bowl!

Awesome Burrito Bowl

Recipe by Giovanni PamparanaCourse: SaladsCuisine: MexicanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Build your own burrito bowl salad to make your unique signature meal with the ingredients you love!

Ingredients

• Burrito bowl base

• Lettuce

• Cooked Rice

• Pork Carnitas

• 1 tbsp Sour Cream

• Guacamole

• 2 avocado

• 1 tomato diced in small cubes

• 1 big green onion finely chopped

• 1/2 to 1 lime’s juice

• 2 tbsp chopped Cilantro

• 1 tbsp Olive Oil

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Pico de Gallo

• 2 tomatos diced in little cubes

• 1/2 purple onion diced (has to be this one since it is not strong)

• 1/2 lime’s juice

• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro

• 1 tsp red chilli powder (optional if you like it spicy)

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Caramelized Onions

• 1 large onion sliced in thin julienne strips

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tbsp sugar

• Add your toppings

• Corn

• Canned black beans

• Jalapeño

• Peppers

• Purple Onion

• Cilantro to garnish

• Limes to decorate and add extra acidity to the meal!

Directions

• Have your carnitas ready and cooled off
• Caramelized Onions
• Heat a large pan with the olive oil
• Lower the heat to medium-low and add the onions and salt. Do not cover the pan and stir frequently. They have to start caramelizing with their own sugars and not get browned (or burnt of course). This process can take around 30 minutes, so be patient and do not leave it there without attention
• When you see that the onions start to be very translucent and have a brownish tone from the inside, add the sugar and stir
• Now, continue cooking the onions until they are fully cooked. Let the sugar dissolve and caramelize the onions. Taste them and correct either the salt or sugar to taste
• Take out from the pan and let it cool for a bit while you prepare the other ingredients
• Pico de Gallo
• Add all the chopped ingredients and red chilli powder (optional) in a bowl and mix
• Add the lime’s juice and the salt and pepper
• Taste and correct the flavour with the salt and pepper
• Guacamole
• Mash the avocados in a bowl
• Add the rest of the ingredients and mix everything together
• Correct the taste by adding more lime jouce, salt or pepper
• Time to build it up!
• In a large serving bowl, add a bed of lettuce
• Over the bed of lettuce, add the rice and pork carnitas
• Add the guacamole, pico de gallo, and caramelized onions
• Add the toppings you like!
• Add the sour cream and garnish with some chopped cilantro
• Decorate with the lime wedges and take a picture and share it with us!
• Mix everything up and add more salt, pepper or lime juice (or even more sour cream :P) to match your taste!
• Now it’s time to enjoy!

The post Awesome Burrito Bowl appeared first on The Gluten-Free Corner.

This pork preparation will really amaze you for its floral and fresh flavor, but also because you can use it everywhere! In tacos, salads, or with any side! Think of something are there you have it!

The traditional Mexican carnitas is usually cooked for long periods of time, but it has several changes in temperature during its preparation. But… today nobody got time for that!

That is why we are going to cheat using a pressure cooker!

If you have an instant pot (totally recommended!), it is going to be way easier. If you have the traditional pressure cooker you are going to have to watch it and count the time. Anyways, this recipe is quite forgiving so worry not!

Once they are ready, you just have to shred them and broil them for a few minutes in the oven to get a crispy and awesome flavour!

The Best Pork Carnitas

Recipe by Giovanni PamparanaCourse: MainCuisine: MexicanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

The easy and fast pork carnitas are the core of your next Mexican meal!

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg pork shoulder (3 lbs.), cut in 3 cm cubes

• 2 tsp minced garlic (3 cloves)

• 12 g salt (2 tsp kosher salt)

• 8 g light brown sugar (2 tsp)

• 1 tbsp ground cumin

• 2 tsp dried oregano

• 2 tsp dried basil

• 3 tbsp fresh coriander (or 1 tsp ground coriander)

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp red chili powder

• 2 oranges sliced in quarters

• 1 lime sliced in half (well washed)

• 1 cup of chicken stock (well washed)

Directions

• In a bowl, combine the garlic, salt, sugar and spices.
• Rub the spice mix into the pork cubes. Use all of it!
• Transfer the pork into de pressure cooker with all the remaining spice rub (don’t lose anything )
• Add the stock and squeeze the oranges and the lime into the pressure cooker pot and leave whatever is left inside the pot. We are cooking the pork with everything inside!
• Now its cooking time. If you have an electric pressure cooker, set high pressure for 40 minutes. In a normal pressure cooker, start counting the 40 minutes as soon as you have the pressure build inside!
• Once the 40 minutes have passed, leave the pressure cooker to release the pressure naturally (should take 15-20 minutes).
• Preheat the oven broiler. Cover with aluminum foil a baking sheet.
• Take out the pork from the pot and shred it with two forks. Transfer the pork to the aluminum foil lines baking sheet and put it in the oven!
• Broil your carnitas until you see a nice crisp and browning on top. It should take at most 5 minutes, but don’t leave it there and go away! Keep a close eye on your carnitas!!
• Now, enjoy them with whatever you imagined! Remember to use gluten-free corn tortillas for your tacos! Time to eat!

The post The Best Pork Carnitas appeared first on The Gluten-Free Corner.

Pizza, oh pizza… what a great creation our Italian fellas brought to the world. Loved by almost everyone in the world, this is an all-in-one package meal. You have a nice crust covered by a nice Italian style tomato sauce, topped with mozzarella cheese and whatever thing you might think of.

Fully customizable, this will bring joy to your table and your kids. Although today we find several places that offer “gluten-free” pizza, nobody can make us sure that is doesn’t have cross-contamination (unless it is an only gluten-free place, of course). So it’s something that celiac people really miss when they are diagnosed and have to go gluten-free.

Here I bring you a recipe for a “thick” pizza crust (it is certainly not the thin one, but it is a decent size so you can hold it without any problems). This crust will be crunchy and golden on the bottom.

As the other bread recipes, I recommend using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. If you don’t have one, you can mix by hand. Just make sure you beat it up well! You will also need a baking sheet and parchment paper, and of course, whatever you would like to have over the crust!

Gluten-Free Pizza Crust

Recipe by Giovanni PamparanaCourse: MainCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

1

large pizza

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

This thick pizza crust will bring joy back to your home!

Ingredients

• 250 g of my Gluten-free Bread Flour Blend

• 10 g instant yeast

• 10 g honey

• 150 ml warm water (2/3 cup) (105-110ºF / 40-43ºC)

• 6 g salt (1 tsp kosher salt)

• 12 g olive oil (1/2 tbsp)

Directions

• In a bowl, mix the water, honey and yeast and let it rest for about 5 minutes until you see it starts foaming (that tells you that your yeast is alive and ready to go!)
• In your stand mixer bowl (or a normal bowl), mix all the ingredients together.
• Beat up the mixture for 7 minutes, first at low speed so the flour incorporates with the liquids, and then turn it to high speed! It will be a soft and sticky dough!
• Transfer everything to a previously oiled bowl to let the dough rise! Cover the bowl with a plastic film and put it in a warm and draft-free area (I use my oven, heat it up to 120ºF (45ºC), turn it off, open the door for 1 minute, put the bowl in, close the door and leave the oven light on). Leave it to proof for about 1 hour so it can double its size.
• Once the time has passed, put the dough into the fridge for 1 hour (you can leave it overnight too if you want to do it for the next day, it will be easier to handle if you do this!).
• Once the hour has passed (or you are ready to cook), preheat the oven to 400ºF (205ºC).
• Transfer the dough into a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Oil your hands and start spreading carefully the dough to give it its final shape! Don’t press it too hard so you don’t lose the air bubbles! It will be a bit sticky, so use a bit more oil in your hands if you need it.
• Now it’s baking time!
• Cook the dough alone for 10 minutes.
• Take it out and spread the tomato sauce (see notes). Cook for another 10 minutes.
• Take it out again, and put all the cheese and toppings! Cook it for another 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown at the bottom and the cheese has melted.
• Take it out for the last time, let it sit 5 minutes…. cut…. eat…. enjoy!!!!

Notes

• You can make a good tomato sauce by mixing 1 cup of crushed tomatoes, 1 tsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, some pepper, 1/2 tbsp olive oil, and 1 tbsp of dried oregano. You can tune up the flavour as you wish by changing the amounts

The post Gluten-Free Pizza Crust appeared first on The Gluten-Free Corner.

After trying for my first time the butter chicken in an Indian restaurant, I know that I had to do it at home (you won’t guess how many Indian recipes are naturally gluten-free!). After many attempts, I could finally reach a balanced recipe that could please everyone, even the people that hate spices and hot food!

My wife and I cannot eat spicy hot food since it harms our stomachs. As well, we know loads of people, especially from Latin America, who are not used to spicy food and cannot tolerate it. But guess what, they went crazy with this one!

My final test was to give a cooking class for my whole family including my aunt, cousins and my grandmother! After all the chaos you would expect from an Italian family in a video call (on Zoom, of course, cause, you know… COVID) as everyone was talking, some shouting, some left behind and a lot of laughter, they managed to finish their cooking. I can’t explain their reactions when they tried the food they made themselves. They were totally amused saying that this was the best thing they have tried for a long time. I was so happy with the results that actually, that was the kickstart I needed to start this blog.

This recipe is quite easy to make and you need a few things only:

• A skillet
• A pot with its lid
• A blender

You need to know that you have to marinate the chicken for at least an hour before starting to cook (you can also leave it overnight). This step is essential to have a flavorful chicken and the yogurt and spices will make it tender as well.

Also, please read the labels. This recipe calls for a lot of spices, and I have seen quite a bunch that have either gluten ingredients or cross-contamination. So be careful!!

We will use a classic Indian spice mix called Garam Masala. You can buy it ready from your store or make it yourself (a future post coming for it!). Speaking with my Indian colleague, he told me that the quality of the garam masala is crucial for this recipe. Lots of brands that they sell here and not good enough and quite bland. He even brings his own garam masala from India! So my recommendation is to try to get an Indian branded spice. It will make a difference, trust me (I have tried).

Now, enough talking, let’s go to the recipe!

Simply the Best Butter Chicken

Recipe by Giovanni PamparanaCourse: Indian, MainsCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Medium

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Just OMG this Butter Chicken. It has flavor, creamy texture, the right amount of spices… everything!

Ingredients

• Chicken Marinade

• 800 g chicken thighs (boneless and skinless)
  You can use breasts also but I firmly recommend thighs

• 3/4 cup plain yogurt (if you can use 2% fat or more is better)

• 1 tbsp finely grated ginger

• 1 1/2 tbsp minced garlic (around 8 cloves)

• 2 tsp garam masala

• 1-2 tsp chilli powder (depending on how hot you like your food, with 1 tsp you won’t feel it spicy)

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp turmeric

• 12 g salt (1 1/2 tsp kosher salt)

• Sauce

• 2 tbsp ghee (you can replace it with 1 tbsp of butter + 1 tbsp vegetable oil)

• 1 onion (diced)

• 1 1/2 tbsp minced garlic (around 8 cloves)

• 1 tbsp finely grated ginger

• 2 tsp garam masala

• 1 1/2 tsp cumin

• 1 tsp ground coriander seed (or 1 tbsp dry coriander)

• 1-3 tsp chilli powder (depending on how hot you like your food, with 1 tsp you won’t feel it spicy)

• 550 g diced tomatoes

• 16 g salt (2 tsp kosher salt)

• 1 1/2 tbsp sugar

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1 cup unsalted raw cashews

• Fresh parsley to garnish

Directions

• Cut the chicken into 2×2 cm cubes and mix with every ingredient in the marinade section. Cover up and let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour (can be overnight as well).
• Heat a large pot and melt the ghee (or butter + oil mixture) and fry the onions on medium heat until they start to sweat (they will start to look a bit translucent) stirring occasionally. It will take around 5-10 minutes, but be careful, don’t let them brown.
• Add the garlic and ginger, and continue cooking them for 3-5 more minutes until you feel the fragrance of them. Continue stirring occasionally.
• Incorporate all the spices and fry them for 1 minute so they release all their fragance as well!
• Now add the tomatoes, salt and sugar. Give it a good mix and put the lid on. Keep the heat on medium so it simmers (you will see some bubbles coming out from the sauce, it’s like a low boiling). Let it cook for 15 minutes stirring once in a while so it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
• Meanwhile, heat up a large skillet with 2 tbsp of olive oil. When it’s hot, start frying the chicken on medium-high with all the marinade (it has all the flavour!!). Just cook it until the sides are cooked, since we are going to finish it with the sauce!
• When the sauce finishes cooking, put it on the blender with the cashew nuts. Blend it until it becomes a smooth sauce. If you see that the sauce is too thick to be blended, you can add a little water to help it (no more than 1/4 cup, we still need a rather thick sauce).
  Tip: Be careful with this step, since the sauce is hot, steam bubbles can be produced and splash out sauce everywhere and can burn you!
• Return the sauce to the pot, transfer the chicken with all its juices to the sauce and add the heavy cream. Cook everything together at medium heat so it simmers for about 10 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and the sauce has thickened.
• And now, serve over hot basmati rice, garnish with chopped parsley and a jet of cream! Enjoy!

The post Simply the Best Butter Chicken appeared first on The Gluten-Free Corner.

Indian food has a lot of recipes that are naturally gluten-free. Personally, I don’t like too much spiciness in my food so the only Indian food I eat is butter chicken (and this one is naturally gluten-free :D). Although this, I always envied my friends that were eating their Indian food with this bread with an incredibly nice buttery smell. So I tried to give it a go and it turned out great!

Here I present to you my version of the Indian Naan Bread made gluten-free. The nice thing about this recipe is that you don’t need special equipment to prepare this bread. Also, the flour blend is simple and easy!

I would say the only ingredient that would be kind of difficult to get is the ghee. Lots of stores nowadays have it, but I the ones I have seen have gluten on them (read the labels!). You can make your own ghee at home (I’ll upload a recipe soon to help you with that), or you can use a mixture of butter + vegetable oil.

I’ll upload the step-by-step instructions and pictures soon

Gluten-Free Naan Bread

Recipe by Giovanni PamparanaCourse: Lunch, DinnerCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

1

hour 

30

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

This gluten-free naan bread will help you eat your Indian food like you should!

Ingredients

• 100 g cornstarch

• 75 g tapioca starch

• 75 g white rice flour

• 100 g brown rice flour

• 4 g xanthan gum

• 10 g instant yeast (2 tsp)

• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

• 4 g salt (1/2 tsp kosher salt)

• 235 ml warm water (1 cup) (105-110ºF / 40-43ºC)

• 20 g honey

• 42 g melted ghee (3 tbsp)
  Can be replaced with 28 g of melted unsalted butter (2 tbsp) + 1 tbsp of vegetable oil

• 1/3 cup plain yogurt

• Some more ghee or butter + olive oil mixture to fry the bread later (at least 3-4 tbsp of ghee or the same amount of butter and olive oil mixture)

Directions

• Start by mixing the water, yeast and honey and leave it there to bubble! If you see that foam is starting to form, it means that your yeast is active and ready to go (around 3-5 minutes).
• Homogenize the dry ingredients (flour, starches, salt, xanthan gum and cream of tartar) using a whisk. This is really important so the xanthan gum is well distributed.
• Now mix everything together!! Using a silicone spatula start mixing and scraping the borders until you can’t continue with it. Now it is time to knead the dough!
• Transfer the dough into a silicone mat and start kneading for around 10 minutes so everything is well mixed and homogenized. The dough will be kind of firm, but not sticky. If it sticks a bit, you can oil your hand a bit and everything will be ok.
• Give the dough a ball shape and transfer it to a previously oiled bowl and cover it with plastic film. Place it in a warm place with no air currents to rise. The dough should rise until it doubled its size.
  (I preheat my oven to 120ºF (48ºC), turn it off, leave the door open for about a minute, and then I leave the dough inside with the oven light on until its ready)
• Once it has doubled its size, transfer the dough to a silicone mat and cut it into 8 equal pieces. Cover them with a moist towel so they don’t dry up!
• Use a rolling pin to flatten each piece in the silicone mat giving them the classic rounded (or oval) shape of naan. Leave them with a thickness of about 0.5 to 1 cm.
• Place the rolled naan bread into a tray, cover them with plastic film and let them rise a bit more for about 30 minutes.
• Preheat a skillet (you can use an iron skillet to get a nicer browning) and melt around 2 tbsp of ghee (or 1tbsp of butter + 1 tbsp olive oil).
• Meanwhile, melt 2 tbsp of ghee (or melt 1 tbsp of butter and then add 1 tbsp of olive oil) and have a brush in handy.
• Start frying the naan in batches with high heat. You should start seeing that some of them develop air bubbles inside. That’s great!
• After 2 or 3 minutes depending on thew power of your heating, they should start to develop a nice brown colour (see the picture of how the browning is distributed). Brush the white side of the naan bread with the melted ghee (or butter mixture) and turn them over so they can start browning too.
• When both sides have a nice colour, take them out and pat them with papel towel to remove the excess of grease.
• Now enjoy while they are still warm! Or cover them up with a linen cloth so they remain warm until you eat!

Notes

• Please be careful when buying ghee, lots of brands have gluten when they should!
• If you don’t have ghee to fry the naan, you can use the butter + oil mixture that I wrote about. I would prefer to use olive oil since it has a higher smoking point than other vegetable oils (do not use extra virgin olive oil!).

The post Gluten-Free Naan Bread appeared first on The Gluten-Free Corner.

Step-by-step photos soon!!

BBQ Pork Back Ribs

Recipe by Giovanni PamparanaCourse: MainCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

4

hours 

Following this recipe will yield in the most tender and flavorful pork back ribs! The bones will literally fall off on their own!

Ingredients

• 2 – 2.5 pounds pork back rib rack

• 2 tbsp brown sugar

• 1.5 tsp salt

• 1 tsp ground pepper

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp sweet paprika

• 1 tsp cajun spices mix

• 1 tsp cummin (this can be optional)

• 1 tsp sage

• 2 tbsp apple cider

• 1/2 cup of water

• 1/2 cup gluten-free barbecue sauce

Directions

• Start by drying up the rack with a paper towel and then remove the membrade that is attached to the bone-side of the ribs (omit if they come without it).
• Preheat the oven to 300°F
• Mix all the spices in a bowl, and start rubbing them to the whole rack! They will stick to the ribs forming a whole layer of flavour!
• In an oven safe dish transfer the ribs without bending them. Add the water and apple cider to it and tight cover with aluminium foil to generate a vapour chamber.
• Cook in the oven for 3 hours.
• Take out the ribs and baste them with the juices. brush them with the barbecue sauce. Use more if you need (or want to!!).
• Place the ribs back to the over, but this time uncovered. Continue cooking for 1 hour at the same temperature.
• After the time has passed, check if the bones fall off. If they do, you are ready!!! (If not continue cooking and checking if they are ready every 15 minutes until they are done, the time can vary according to the oven or weight of the rack).

The post Oven-cooked Fall-of-the-Bone BBQ Pork Back-Ribs appeared first on The Gluten-Free Corner.