Uruguay

Uruguay

ARROZ CON CHILES VERDE (Rice with green chiles)
Country of origin: Uruguay

1 Tablespoon oil
2 Cups rice
1/2 onion, diced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 small can diced green chilies
4 cups water
1 pint sour cream

Saute dry rice in saucepan with oil until slightly browned. Stir in onion and spices and stir over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add diced green chilies and water. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or just until the water is absorbed. Serve with sour cream.


URUGUAY There are conflicting legends explaining the name given to Uruguay's capital, Montevideo. Both originate in Ferdinand Magellan's visit to the region in 1520. According to one legend, a sailor on Magellan's ship saw land and shouted, "Monte vide eu"—"I see a hill." The other version is based on a Spanish phrase found on early maps: "Monte VI de E.O.," or "The sixth hill from east to west."

The official language of Uruguay is Spanish. In regions close to the Brazilian border, a Spanish-Portuguese dialect called Portuñol (or Portuniol) is spoken.
To say goodbye, most Uruguayans have adopted the Italian ciao or addio in place of the Spanish adios.

It is proper to kiss someone both when saying hello and upon departing.

When invited to an Uruguayan home, one may be offered mate, an herbal tea. Traditionally, mate is drunk through a silver straw, called a bombilla, from a carved gourd (hollow fruit).

Recipe
Puchero
(Uruguayan meat stew)
Ingredients
water
4 pounds osso buco (veal shanks), cut into six pieces
6 carrots, peeled
1 onion
1 pound green beans
6 ears of sweet corn, husked
1 squash (medium size), cut into 6 pieces, unpeeled
1 cup chopped celery 6 white potatoes, peeled
6 zucchini
1 bunch parsley
4 teaspoons salt
Directions
Fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil.
Add all ingredients to boiling water in the following order: the meat, then carrots, onion, green beans, corn, squash, and celery. Then add potatoes, zucchini, and corn. Add parsley and salt to season the stew.
Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
Drain off most of the liquid.
Serve the meat and vegetable in bowls with a little of the broth. Mustard, mayonnaise, tomato, onion, or pepper sauce may be served as accompaniments.

Recipe courtesy of the Embassy of Uruguay.

The Uruguayans have also adapted traditional Spanish dishes. A Uruguayan version of puchero, Spanish meat stew, is sometimes cooked with blood sausage.
The Uruguayan District of Salto was created late in the XVII century. It was founded in November 1756 by the then governor of Montevideo, don José Joaquín Vianna, along with 400 men who should settle down at a spot called Salto and wait for the Marquis of Valdelirios, whom they were supposed to escort. Vianna and his men built a fort and several sheds.

The city owes its name to the Spanish word used to refer to the many falls of water created by the Uruguay River in that area, also known as “itu”, which in the Guaraní native tongue means “reefs”.

After 81 years, on June 17, 1837 the Department of Salto was created whose head was located in the village bearing the same name and founded by Vianna.

Some years later, more precisely on June 8, 1863, President Berro passed a decree that set forth that the village of Salto was elevated to the category of city.

These lands witnessed one of the most important historical events in Uruguay. In December, 1811, more than 11,000 people camped in Salto for over a month. They were escorting General Artigas on what he himself called “la Redota” or emigration. One of the greatest exploits of the eastern people who were escaping the royalists through the Salto territory. Artigas’ camp in Salto was known as “Ayuí”.

Concepción del Uruguay
Nuestra Señora de la Inmaculada Concepción del Uruguay (Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of the Uruguay), which would be its original name, is located on the right bank of the Uruguay River (a Guaraní word that means “river of the birds” or “river of the shell”), is the capital of the culture of Entre Ríos and keeps the secret of a special attractiveness for the traveler.
The Charrúa and Guaraní Indians would dwell the region.
The Charrúas would inhabit most of the Province of Entre Ríos around the XVII century. They were tall and sturdy and devoted tehmselves to hunting deer and rheas, whereas the littoral Charrúas would practice fishing in their long canoes. They complemented their feeding habits with rhea eggs, ceibo cores and wild fruit. They lived in huts built with bent branches, whose roofs were made of cow or horse fur. Their costumes consisted in a cotton or fur apron and sometimes a fur cape.

The Guaraní Indians would belong to the great tupi-guaraní linguistic family. Of medium height, they used to wander about completely naked, except for some feather ornaments and small loincloths. They would also paint their bodies. They were sedentary. They built round huts, with walls of clay or straw, or community houses made of wood and leaves, where several families used to dwell. They cultivated tapioca, sweetpotato, maize and squash at the milpa. Their weapons were the bow, which used to be over two meters long, the arrows and the macana. They used to be great potters and very good sailors (their canoes were very long) and each community was ruled by a tubichá.
Back in 1783, the village of Arroyo de la China was founded by Tomás de Rocamora on June 25 in the South of Entre Ríos, resting by one of the streams emptying into the Uruguay and under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception.

In 1814, Supreme Director Gervasio de Posadas set this city as capital of the Province of Entre Ríos for long years by means of the extraordinary power granted to him by the Constitutional Convenion. In 1883, it was resolved that the capital would be the city of Paraná.
Justo José de Urquiza, representative of the Legislature, succeeded in the passing of a law by which the village would be declared a city in 1826.
In November, 1852, the men from Concepción del Uruguay fought boldly against the invasion sent from Buenos Aires and commanded by Madariaga in order to change Urquiza's plans and frustrate the meeting of the Constitutional Convenion, which was celebrating its first sessions at Santa Fe.

In January 1860, the Provincial Convention, gathered at the Historical College precincts, passed the Constitution of Entre Ríos.

Both General Francisco Ramírez and General Justo José de Urquiza became authentic leaders of the province, to such an extent that General Ramírez, confronting Buenos Aires' Unitarism, which restricted the commercial possibilities of the region, created the Republic of Entre Ríos.
After the national organization, General Justo José de Urquiza, remarkable politician and statesman, became the first constitutional president of the country.

Uruguayan poet famous for a long historical verse epic, Tabaré (1886; final edition after several revisions, 1926), a poem in six cantos, ...
245) As a foundational statement, Tabare was later echoed in national epic poetry produced in twentieth-century Uruguay, notably Sara de Ibanez's Canto a ...

Tabaré Etcheverry es uno de los grandes olvidados de nuestra música popular ... Desde chico estuvo rodeado de música, aprendiendo del canto de los zorzales" ...

TABARE (Tavaré) Versión Guaraní de Jesús Martínez (Juan Zorrilla de San Martín) 1998, 248 pgs.

"Tavare" es un canto de la epopeya indígena del Uruguay considerado como el canto nacional por excelencia. Su traducción al guaraní es una forma de volver a su verdadero origen. Es la primera lengua amerindia en que se vierten los melódicos poemas del uruguayo universal, Juan Zorrilla de San Martín.
El autor de la versión guaraní, Emigdio de Jesús Martínez, es un conocedor de la obra original. Volcó en prosa los versos originales en castellano para lograr una versión guaraní también en prosa.