remember back in july when i made argentinian chimichurri sauce? in that post i mentioned that the only chimichurri i knew of was the dominican sandwich. well, i finally made the dominican chimi at home.  the chimichurri is the dominican version of a burger.  it shares the namewith the argentinean sauce, but that is about it with similarities between the two.  the dominican burger, usually called chimis, is usually sold by food trucks or stands. 

i must confess that i have never actually had a chimi in the dominican republic; the only chimis i have tasted have been in washington heights, new york city.  the main reason why i never had street chimis in the dr was because my mom did not like us eating food from street vendors.  this was understandable since the dr still has problems with getting clean and safe drinking water so street food was always risky.  what she didn’t know was that every time our uncle (dad’s oldest brother)visited from ny he would buy us street food and we never said no. we never had chimis with him but did have corn, peanut brittle, coconut water and ice cream. my brother and i loved whenever our uncle would visit because it meant we got to eat street food without our mom knowing.  this went on for a while until one day the five of us (mom, dad, bro, uncle & josie) were sitting in the porch and a street vendor selling boiled corn walked by. the vendor knew my uncle and immediately came to our house to give us the corn.  my brother and i looked at each other and then stared at the floor.  our mom, who had no idea we’ve been eating this for so long, proudly said “oh no, not for us; the kids don’t eat street food”.  my uncle was in shock, he had been buying us food all week long and couldn’t believe what my mom was saying.  he started laughing uncontrollably while my brother and i tried to remain very still so they wouldn’t notice we were sitting there. but they noticed. my mom was disappointed but ended up laughing at this while we all ate our corn. 

to this day we still laugh about it.  last year my brother and i went home for a sad occasion and my mom, uncle and i were sitting under a tree enjoying the breeze when a coconut salesman came by.  my uncle looked at my mom and i and then started laughing.  we kept laughing while we drank our coconut water; this was one of the few honest laughs that week.  see mom… street food is not all bad after all!

here is the recipe for dominican chimichurris!

INGREDIENTS:
1lb ground beef
1 large tomato
1 large onion
sandwich or burger rolls
2 tbs of canola or vegetable oil
worcestershire sauce
1 italian green pepper
2 garlic cloves
2 cups of shredded cabbage
2 tbs of toasted dry oregano
salt & pepper
mayonnaise
mustard
ketchup

*i have no idea why i added cilantro to the picture

INSTRUCTIONS:
start by chopping up the peppers, 1/2 of the onion and garlic very tiny.

seriously, go tiny.

put them all into a bowl and add the ground beef.

season with oregano, salt & pepper and mix well.

add 2 tablespoons of worcestershire sauce and mix well.  make sure to blend everything well.

heat one tablespoon of oil on a skillet and make 4 patties.  i made them in weird shapes because of the bread rolls, but if you have hamburger bread just make 4 round patties.

while the patties cook shred about two cups of cabbage.  try to do them thinly.

also, slice the tomato and the remaining onion.

turn the patties to make sure they cook well.  ground beef must be cooked well.

make the pink sauce while you wait for the beef to cook. mix together 2 parts of mayo to 1 part of ketchup to 1/2 part of mustard.  got all that?

the end result should be a uniform light pink sauce that is not too ketchup-y so add mayo as needed.

by now the burgers should be cooked.  raise the heat and place them on a plate.

cook the tomato and onion rings a bit to brown the edges.

add 1/2 tbs of oil and cook the cabbage until it softens.

so like this more or less:

finally, toast the bread on the same skillet.  if the skillet looks dry add a bit more oil.

toast on both sides.

and now, to assemble.  first, the patty.

then the tomatoes and onions.

top it off with the wilted cabbage.

and top off with the pink sauce.

here is a close up so you can see the layers.

it tasted just like the ones from the truck! i love street food and i am so happy i can now make these at home.

hope you try this, thank you for stopping by!