Dominican Republic Food, Fruits and Their Translations

The food of Dominican Republic is a blend of many different cultural dishes all combined to make style of cooking that is unique to this island. With influences of Taino Indians, Spaniards, African Slaves and many other immigrants, the Dominican dishes have evolved to be some of the best tasting foods we have ever tasted.

This food is high in carbohydrates and starch. Though most recipes are not complicated, most are made from very natural and locally grown foods that are readily available in gardens, trees and from local vendors. Add a little locally raised meat or a fresh catch of fish, and some sazóne (spices) and you have a typical Dominican meal..

The typical Dominican lunch, called La Bandera Dominicana/the Dominican Flag, is beans and rice (arroz), meat, and a salad. The plate is filled with the most rice I have ever seen on a plate. Add some habichuelas/ juicy beans on top of the rice, along with some of the sauce from the meat. Eat this with a large spoon and a knife used for pushing the food onto the spoon. When the beans are made just right and the rice has the perfect amount of salt, along with a little concón/ crispy fried rice from the bottom of the pan, this meal is wonderful. I can see why most Dominicans eat this meal everyday of their lives. It is a joke among my Dominican friends, if they do not eat rice everyday they will not live. I do believe this is true.

If you like desserts and sweets you should try out a mixture of beans, condensed milk and some other ingredients I don't know. Habichuelas con dulse, a traditional dessert during Easter. It's also made into an ice cream that can be bought at Bon's Helados. I never thought of beans as a dessert and ice cream. This is a must taste for sure.

The fruits grown here are the best. You have never eaten a pineapple/ piña until you have tried one here. And the Mayans (season May thru September), of which there are two types, are wonderful and very messy. Don't let the juice get on your clothes, it stains. Papaya/ lechosa are unbelievably tasty. Then there are the fruits that you have never seen or heard of before. Some do look ugly but don't snub them because of the way they look. For example, the sweet oranges/china here are so sweet and juicy. You can buy a juice o the street fresh squeezed and many restaurants squeeze their juices fresh. There are a few different types of oranges. The china, which is the sweet, agria, which is mixed with sugar to make it sweet, then there is the bitter orange/ naranja sevillana that is used for cooking. The Guava/ guayaba, a pink colored, pear-shaped fruit with yellow skin is wonderful when made into juice or a greenish colored jelly (try it made into a paste and eaten with some cheese, I was shocked that this tastes so good) To learn more of the products grown in Dominican Republic go to our Grown in DR page here

Ahuyama - type of yam (used in many soups to make the color)
Ají - pepper
Aji Verde - Green pepper
Albóndigas - meatballs
Alcachofas - artichokes
Arbejas - peas
Arenque - stewed herring
Arepa - spicy baked pudding made of cornmeal and coconut
Arepitas de Maíz - fried corn meal cakes resembles corn bread (get the recipe-new window)
Bacalaítos - cod fish fritters
Bacalao - cod fish
Barbacoa - barbecue
Batata Frita - sweet potato fritters
Batata - sweet potato
Batida - a blender drink made of fruit, milk(either Carnation milk or regular milk), ice, sugar
Berenjena - Eggplant
Biscocho - cake
Bisteck - thin sliced beef steak
Bondelic - prune cake
Cajuilitos Sulimanes - a small, red, pear-shaped fruit, mild flavor,crunchy texture
Cajuil - cashew, and the seed is the cashew NUT, and the cajuil is the orangish fruit that holds the seed.
Calabaza - West Indian type pumpkin
Calamares - squid
Camarones - shrimp
Cangrejo - crab
Carnesion - Carnation milk
Carne molida - Ground Beef
Casabe - cassava (more information - new window)
Cachú or Kachu - ketchup
Cerdo - pork
Cereza - The Barbados cherry this is the common cherry here in DR- it has 3 seeds inside
Champola - milk with guanábana
Chen Chen - pudding made with cornmeal
Chicharrone - Fried pork skins. One can usually purchase these in the streets carried on the shoulders of street vendors. Topped with a special vinegar sauce or límon these are very greasy, not that good for you. But they are sooo tasty that once you have tried them you won't be able to resist making the guy stop to sell you a little bit (un chin)
Chimichurri - hamburger Dominican style
China/ Jugo de China - Orange/Orange juice
Chinola - passion fruit. This fruit has a tart sweetness that is wonderful made into juice and ice cream. It is also great eating this messy fruit fresh from the skin (easer if eaten with a spoon)
Cho-Cho or Tayota - little squash
Chofan - Dominican twist to the Chinese dish chow fan. This is a rice dish made with bacon,chicken and/or fried pork skin. Added in are egg, garlic, onions and other ingredients that are different according to the cook.(Would you like the recipe so you can make it for dinner this night?)
Chuleta ahumada - Smoked pork chop
Chuleta al Carbon - grilled pork chop
Chuletas de Res - Prime Rib
Churrasco - charcoal grilled meat
Ciruela- prune (Ciruela Seca-dry prune)
Coco Tierno - Coconut and milk sweetened to make a puddling like desert
Coliflor - cauliflower
Concón - burnt rice on the bottom of the pan, very good to eat (making concón opens in new window)
Cremor - cream of tartar
Crinchí - cream cheese
El Tocino - bacon
Empanizado - breaded (usually a breaded meat)
Entre Cote - boneless rib steak
Espaguetis - Spaghetti
Espárragos - asparagus
Espinacas - spinach
Frio Frio - shaved ice with flavors, snow cone
Granada - pomegranate
Grei-frú or toronja - grapefruit
Guanábana - Soursop, a tropical fruit with lots of creamy white pulp and green spiny skin. The texture is strange for a fruit but very tasty.

Guandules - look like peas and more common than the peas we are accustomed to
Guineo - banana (picture here-opens in new window)
Guisada - anything stewed(Rés guisada- stewed beef; pollo guisado-stewed chicken) (get the recipes-opens in new window)
Habas - white beans/ fava beans
Habichuelas - beans with liquid and mild spice. A Dominican staple (get the recipe- opens in new window)
Habichuelas con Dulce-Beans made in a sweet sauce closely resembles a pudding, Easter traditional food (get the recipe-opens in new window)
Helados - ice cream
Hongos - (word for fungus) mushrooms
Jonikaike - Johnny Cake
Jugo de avena - drink make with oatmeal and milk (get the recipe-opens in new window)
Kipes-quipes, Middle Eastern - type food adapted to the Dominican style.Made of bulger(cracked wheat), ground beef and fried. Can be purchased on the street and in Colmados in the morning. Very filling and flavorful.
La Bandera Dominicana - or la Bandera- (The Dominican Flag) typical Dominican lunch. Beans.rice.meat, and salad (get the recipe opens in new window)
Lambi - Conch
Langosta - Spiny lobster
Lechón Asado - roast suckling pig
Lechoza - papaya. This fruit can be quite large, unlike the little ones you could be accustomed to. Makes a great juice drink with milk (batida) (about papaya-opens in new window)
Limoncillos - (also known as Genip, Genipa, Mamoncillo and Spanish lime) a fruit, looks like a lime but grows in bunches. Inside fruit is cantaloupe colored and sweet.(more information with picture-opens in new window)
Locrio - typical Dominican home-style rice dish typically made with sausage (sometimes with shrimp or chicken mixed in). Very tasty
Longanesa - a Dominican home made sausage
Mabi - natural juice (more about Mabi-new window) ( Now available in USA. Refresco Mavi from Goya Foods. If you can't find it ask the store owner to order it )
Maíz - corn (picture of a maíz street vendor - opens in new window)
Mamajuana-A typical Dominican drink made with herbs and roots with rum,honey and vine added. Some may have animal parts added supposed to be good for men's potency. (more info on mamajuana-opens in new window)
Mamey - orange
Mandarina - tangerine, can be found January thru February and November thru December
Maní - peanut
Mandarino - mandarin orange
Mangú - typical Dominican food made with platanos, onion and oil mashed. Typically served at breakfast (get the recipe-opens in new window)
Marañon - Cashew nuts
Mariscos - sea food
Medio pollo - coffee with milk
Miel - honey
Mofongo - typical Dominican dish made with mashed fried green platanos/ plantains. These traditionally are mashed with chicharrones/fried pork skins. This is served with a broth on the side for dipping or moistening the dish. *there are other types of Monfongo that have different types of meats but this is the basic recipe ie: Camaronfongo/ shrimp monfongo)
Molondrones - Okra
Mondongo - tripe stew
Morisoñando - orange juice blended with Carnation milk
Moro de guandules - rice and peas
Moro - typical Dominican dish of rice and beans or corn mixed
Pan de Auga - Water Bread. These individual rolls are very flavorful. The outside is crusty and is good alone or made into a sandwich. Most Colmados sell them fresh made every morning.
Pancito - roll
Panceki - hotcakes, pancakes
Pasteles en Hoja - a type of tamale with a variety of fillings
Pavo - turkey
Pecao - fish
Pechuga de Pollo - Chicken Breast
Pejibaye - Heart of Palm
Pepinillos - Pickles
Pepino - Cucumber
Pera - pear
Pescado - fish
Petits Pois - peas
Pica-Pica - sardines
Pica-pollo - breaded fried chicken
Pichirri - the tail of the chicken
Platanos de Caldero or Maduro - Caramelized ripe plantains (recipe-opens in new window)
Pollo Frito - fried chicken
Pulpo - squid
Queque - cake
Queso - cheese
Queso Frito - Dominican fried, white cheese
Quipes - bulger roll usually with a little meat inside
Rábanos - radishes
Remolachas - beets
Repollo - cabbage
Revuelitos - scrambled eggs
Salpicón - meat loaf
Sancocho - signature dish of the country. A thick stew-type dish made with vegetables and different types of meat(beef,pork,chicken,goat..) (get the recipe-opens in new window)
Pessi - Pepsi Cola
Siro - hotcake syrup
Tamarindo - tamarind (more information and picture-opens in new window)
Taro - spinach
Tayota (or) Cho-Cho - Little Squash
Té de Jengibre - ginger tea, a Christmas drink (Christmas traditions-new window) (get the recipe-new window)
Tipili - Bulger salad, tabouleh
Toronja (dominicanismo= grei-frú) - grapefruit
Tortilla de Huevos - Dominican style Spanish omelet
Tostones - fried plantains (get the recipe-opens in new window)
Uva - grape
Vainitas - Green beans
Vegetales - vegetables
Verdura - fresh coriander
Verdura' (also 'verdurita') - fresh coriander (also called 'cilantro')
Vestida de Novia - not sure if it's considered food but it refers to a beer, the ice covering the bottle
Víveres - vegetables, fruits
Yuca - cassave, a long tuber vegetable.(more information - new window)
Yunyun (frio frio) - snow cone, shaved ice with flavored liquid
Zanahorias - carrots
Zapote - a fruit , very tangy and sweet, with a dull brown rind,sticky orange flesh, and large black seeds

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Food and Food Words

Food. This is just a little taste of some of the food (along with their translations) you will run across here in Dominican Republic. Any additions you have please let us know

The Words