cooking more with less

(image by D'Arcy Norman via flickr)

The bad news: Americans will have to learn to live on less now that credit is hard to get and jobs even harder. The good news: Latinos should know how to live big on less – especially in the kitchen.

Like most traditional cuisines, Latin American cooking transforms cheap ingredients into richly flavored dishes that can feed a large family for days. Traditional foods are also more likely to be balanced and non-fattening. In most Latin America countries, red meat is a luxury, snacks are non-existent and dessert is a weekly treat.

Here are three of the most popular Latin American dishes. All are healthy, cheap and easy to prepare.

1. Rice and Beans

It's the quintessential Latino food: rice and beans – from black frijoles to white judías, from green gandules to brown pintos. No matter what color or what you call them, beans (technically "legumes") are nutritious and when combined with rice they're a complete protein. You can literally live off of rice and beans.

Cost: Even if you buy the fanciest organic brands, rice and beans are some of the cheapest foods you can buy in a supermarket.

Preparation: Are you ready? Add water and heat. Seriously. You should probably add seasoning. Also, some beans should be soaked overnight. Most bean dishes are prepared with a basic sofrito of onions and peppers.

2. Ceviche

Ceviche sounds exotic but it's straight-up fish in citrus juice and it's enjoyed in every Latin American country, from Baja California in México to the Patagonias in Argentina and Chile. The fish can be whatever you like or whatever is plentiful and cheap. The citrus bath is usually lemons and limes but you can get fancy and use oranges and grapefruits. Because the acids in the citrus bath do the cooking, ceviche is one of the healthiest dishes you can make.

Cost: Some fish can be expensive – but those aren't the ones you want to use for ceviche. Ask the dude in the white jacket behind the counter for cheap fresh fish to use in ceviche. As for lemons and limes, you can't get cheaper produce.

Preparation: Get bowl. Cut fish. Squeeze lemons and limes in bowl. Place fish in juice. Place bowl in fridge. Come back tomorrow. Eat. For seasoning it's the same-old: chopped onions, salt and pepper. Do you like cilantros and chiles? Add some.

3. Papas

Potatoes were first cultivated in Perú by the Incas more than two thousand years ago and weren't exported to rest of the world until the 1600s. They're low in calories and incredibly nutritious. They're also delicious and the main ingredient in dozens of easy to prepare Latin American dishes.

Cost: Is two for a dollar cheap enough for ya?

Preparation: The potato can be boiled, baked or fried, seasoned and then eaten. But it can be even more delicious when you follow a traditional recipe, from the basic Mexican sopa de papa, to the intermediate Peruvian papa a la Huancaína or the involved Colombian ajiaco.