Costa Rica Unit

After finishing up Europe we decided, springing through one continent is a bad idea. You end up with all of your food tasing similar as you go through so many countries that share a flavor profile. So we’re continent-hopping and we are off to North American for today’s geography lesson as we visit the island nation (I always think its an island, when really it’s on Central America) of Costa Rica for our Costa Rica unit.

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Costa Rica Unit resources

Our library had three books, unfortunately, the one I was most excited by wasn’t checked in when we did this, so I can’t comment on how great they are:

• Costa Rica: a question and answer book–
• Costa Rica ABCs: a book about the people and places of Costa Rica– this was checked out and I was so sad
• Sophia’s Jungle Adventure– set in Costa Rica, it’s a combination fact book about Costa Rica and showcasing different yoga moves

Most of our knowledge came from Geography Now: Costa Rica:

Costa Rica Recipe: Empanada

I found this amazing blog with tons of Costa Rican recipes, and I want to make them all. I did make Empanadas inspired by their recipe, and then I made Costa Rican shredded beef which was wildly popular. More popular than my empanadas, but that’s another story.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 2 cups corn flour (I kind of forgot I needed this, so I used wheat flour, which is less than ideal)
• filling ingredients: shredded cheese, chopped meats, chopped vegetables, etc
• 3-4 cups vegetable oil (for frying)

1. Mix together the flour and water, I used my pastry cutter. Then divid the dome into about 10 small balls.
2. If you have a tortilla press (which I now want), use that to flatten your tortilla, since I don’t, I rolled out the dough with my rolling pin.
3. On half of the dough place your fillings, and then fold it in half creating a half-moon shape, and crimp the edges together.
4. Cook in hot oil for about 10 minutes, flipping halfway through, until the empanada is golden brown.

Costa Rican Empanada

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Costa Rican empanadas make a great self-contained meal to share with friends and family.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 2 cups corn flour (though wheat flour can work)
• filling ingredients: shredded cheese, chopped meats, chopped veggies

Instructions

1. Mix together the flour and water, adding flour as needed to keep it from being too sticky. Divid dough into 10 smaller balls.
2. Start heating pan full of oil.
3. Roll out the dough into roughly circular shapes, if you have a tortilla press, use this to flatten your dough.
4. On half of the dough add your filling ingredients, then fold over the dough and crimp it closed.
5. Place empanada in the hot oil and cook for 10 minutes, flipping about halfway through. Take out when the dough is golden brown.

And they were good, but there weren’t tremendously different from any other meat pie we’d eaten for several other countries. Especially since the recipe pretty much said, “just put in whatever fillings you feel like.”

So I headed back to the blog and printed off the Costa Rican Shredded Beef recipe to give that a go.

Costa Rican Shredded Beef recipe

• 3 pounds flank steak (honestly I couldn’t find that much flank steak, and it’s currently popular, so it’s become much more expensive, so I used what’s essentially pot roast meat)
• 1-2 tablespoons salt
• 1-2 tablespoons chicken bullion
• 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 red bell pepper chopped (I used a whole one)
• 1/2 whine onion chopped (I used a whole one)
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped (left out because Jeff despises cilantro)
• 2 cloves garlic (I probably used 4)
• 2-3 tablespoons salsa (they named a particular brand of salsa, but I just grabbed one from my refrigerator I like)
• 6-8 cups water

1. Okay, this is super difficult, like you may not be able to do this.
2. Dump everything into your slow cooker, and put on low and let it cook for 8 hours. Or 4 hours if you forget until after lunch. Or 25 minutes apparently if you have a pressure cooker, but I broke mine when it fell off the top shelf, and also hit me on the head. It had a vendetta against me.
3. Once it’s all cooked, pull the meat out of the crock pot or instant pot, and start shredding it on a cutting board with 2 forks.
4. Take the broth and you can use it to make a gravy (which I did, and it was wildly popular with the noodles I cooked for it).

Costa Rican Shredded Beef

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This great dish can be used on its own or in a variety of dishes like empanadas, enchiladas, or tacos.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 8 hours

Total Time 8 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 pounds rump roast
• 1-2 tablespoons salt
• 1-2 tablespoons chicken bullion
• 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 red bell pepper chopped
• 1 white onion chopped
• 1/2 bunch cilantro chopped (optional)
• 2-4 cloves of garlic
• 2-3 tablespoons salsa
• 6-8 cups water

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in your slow cooker, and cook on low for 8 hours.
2. Remove from the slow cooker, and shred the beef with two forks.
3. If desired, the broth can be used to make a gravy by slowly adding in corn starch and reducing the volume.

Notes

This can be cooked in 4 hours on high, or about 25 minutes in an instant pot.

Costa Rica Notebooking pages

We filled out the North America notebooking pages for Costa Rica.

I was amazed at the sheer biodiversity of the country and the number of volcanos, over 1000 volcanos! I also was truly amused at the idea of having to gain independence three separate times.

More Geography lessons

• Lithuania Unit
• Spanish Paella
• How to create your own nation
• Colorado Unit
• Scotland Unit