Dia de los Muertos brings excitement to Spanish classes

The sounds of laughter filled the room as students filed through the lines of festive Spanish food in world language teacher Niti Kamath’s class on Thursday, Nov. 1.

The food was brought in as a celebration for the Spanish holiday Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which is celebrated as a happy time to remember family and close friends that passed on.

These in-class parties helped students learn about the traditions and reasons that Dia de los Muertos is honored, and that is Kamath’s most enjoyed part.

“My favorite part [of the parties] is the students learning about the culture and the holiday,” Kamath said.

One of the major traditions of Dia de los Muertos parties were the desserts. Even though some students brought cookies, there were a few that created authentic desserts.

“One student brought Tres Leches cake and it was probably the best food [at the party],” sophomore Nick Stack said.

According to Stack, the party was “awesome” and educational as well.

“I liked how they partied in grave yards,” Stack said. “It was really interesting.”

Spanish fried rice

As most of you know, I am Hispanic. My mamma can probably cook better than a lot of Mexican restaurants. Last night, I made enchiladas and we had my mamma’s fried rice. It doesn’t look like fried rice, but it is.

I love this fried rice. You go to a lot of Mexican restaurants and they just do not have the right amount of spice or oomph. My mamma’s rice, well, su magnífico!

Ingredients:

1 cup of white rice

One 15 oz. can chicken broth

1 tbsp. of chicken and tomato bouillon

1 tbsp. of Spanish rice seasoning

One 6 oz. can of green chilies

½ of a white onion, chopped

1 tbsp. canola oil

Directions:

First, you start out with a pretty good-sized frying pan and put it on the stove at medium-high heat. Put the canola oil in it and the rice. Next, you need to put the onion in it. Now, on medium-high heat, the rice needs to fry. It will take a good four to five minutes. To know that it is ready, the rice shouldn’t be translucent anymore, it should have a white color with brown from frying.

When the rice is ready, you need to pour in the chicken broth. Right after you pour in the chicken broth, fill the can about halfway full of water and pour that into the rice. Next, add the bouillon and the Spanish rice seasoning. These spices can be found at what I call the Mexican Price Chopper. It’s the Price Chopper in Roeland Park. Add in the green chilies.

When it comes to a boil, cover with a lid and turn the heat down to just above simmer. Let it cook for 20 minutes and then se hace! It’s done!

That is what’s cookin’ this week. Now ya’ll check back next week for a whole new recipe.