It’s July — National Hot Dog Month! OK, I just made that up, but I was eager to try this recipe for Brazilian hot dogs because it looked easy to make and would be fun for kids. I was not disappointed.
Next, I sliced all my veggies. My grocery store had run out of green peppers (the nerve!), so I used an orange pepper, which was perfectly delicious. I decided to make a third of the recipe, as it was just for me and my husband.
I sautéed the onion and pepper in olive oil until they were tender, and then I added the tomato, salt, pepper, and enough water to cover the vegetables — about 1 cup.
At first I thought it was too much water, as it looked too diluted, but it turned out to be just right.
After that had cooked down a bit, about 30 minutes, I added the hot dogs. Perhaps because I had cut the recipe in a third, there wasn’t much liquid left to cook the hot dogs in. But because the hot dogs were pre-cooked, I simply made sure they got plenty hot before serving.
In the meantime, I tossed some frozen shoestring fries in the oven. The recipe called for “commercially packaged” shoestring potatoes. I’m not sure what that means, but I’m guessing it’s those canned French fries. I wasn’t sure where to find those in the grocery store, so I went for the healthier option of baking frozen shoestring potatoes.
I also had some frozen corn in the freezer, so I zapped a serving of corn in the microwave rather than using canned corn. While all this was cooking, I toasted the hot dog buns.
Finally, I heaped it all onto the hot dogs: First a good serving of the vegetable sauce, then some corn, then mashed potatoes, then the fries. It looked like street food I would see Anthony Bourdain eating in Brazil, which made it all the more fun.
I really liked it. Granted, I’m a lover of hot dogs, but I even liked it with the corn, mashed potatoes and French fries despite how weird it seemed. The mashed potatoes added creaminess, and the French fries added crunch.
My favorite part was the vegetable sauce. It was savory and made the hot dog seem like something special. (I liked it enough, I would even make this sauce in the future to put over hot dogs.) My husband’s verdict:
“This is actually really good.”
So if you have a sponsored child in Brazil, or even if you don’t, this would be a fun recipe to try this July … and maybe even trick your kids into eating some vegetables with their hot dogs.