milk – YQtravelling

Welcome to YQtravelling’s FoodFriday. The day of the week when I show off some of the lovely eats I had while travelling.

Today we’re making our own hot chocolate, Argentinian style.

I was introduced to the submarino–a winter Argentinian drink–in my Spanish class in Buenos Aires. Out teacher asked our class of 3 if we knew what a submarino was.

Being the smart ass (although truthfully more ass than smart) that I am, I said that it was a sandwich, thinking that it was a quirky nickname for Subway.

Then the teacher explained that it was a drink. In a tall glass of hot milk, a bar of chocolate is submerged, giving it its name “submarino” (submarine).

One day, I tried the drink at a Buenos Aires cafe. The waitress came with a glass of milk and TWO bars of chocolate. The chocolate’s label indicated that it was for submarinos. However, I took a nibble and discovered that it tasted the same as regular dark chocolate.

Instead of flying to Buenos Aires during winter to try the submarino, I will share my recipe for making a submarino in 4 simple steps.

Step 1: Prepare the ingredients

For this recipe, you will need:

Milk
A bar of chocolate, preferably dark
Microwave-friendly heat-resistant mug
A spoon

Step 2: Heat the milk

Pour out your milk into your mug. Put the mug of milk into the microwave and heat it up in 20-30 seconds intervals, test the temperature of the milk and you are ready when the the milk is steaming hot.

Step 3: Submerge your chocolate and stir

Break off a row of chocolate and drown it in milk. Stir vigorously with your spoon.

Once most of the chocolate has turned to liquid, you are ready to…

Step 4: Serve

Drink the whole mug in a go.

Oh, you might need to bathroom afterwards because even people who are not usually lactose intolerant will have some of its symptoms when finishing a large glass of milk. (Or maybe it’s just me.)

Have you tried the recipe? How do you like it?

Did you know that you can suddenly get lactose intolerance even though you were OK with dairy products for the longest time?

That happened to my friend D. She was the biggest fan of dairy (Milk! Cheese! Cakes! Milk tea!) so she’s now missing out on a lot of her favorite food.

That’s why I instantly thought of D when I saw lactose-less milk in an Arequipa supermarket. I even snuck a photo on my phone.

Even though there’s high lactose intolerance among Asians, I’ve not seen such a product in my life. I wonder if there’s a market for it in high-income countries such as Singapore and Japan. (Please do steal my business idea.)

0% lactose milk taste test

The lactose-less milk was available in a 1 liter plastic bag or in small boxes. I bought the 400g box because I don’t think I was able to finish a liter in a week.

0% lactose*
Evaporated milk
Zero discomfort, easy to digest
400g

I then discovered that the box was actually evaporated milk and not whole milk. Oh well, I can add it into my coffee in the morning. (I also added equal parts of water to the milk to make it whole milk.)

Color of lactose-less evaporate milk is the same as regular evaporated milk. I was expecting something paler.

One morning, I used the lactose-less milk in my coffee instead of the regular milk the hostel provides.

Surprisingly, it tasted the same!

Kopi C suitable for the lactose intolerants

I also made a submarino with the lactose less milk. (The how-to will I’m glad to report that the submarino did not cause “symptoms of lactose intolerance”.

Someone really should start a lactose-less milk business in Singapore.

More from the lactose-less milk box

On left:

0% lactose*

Address bla bla bla

Ingredients: Low fat milk, Vitamins (A, C and D), stabilizers (E-399, E-407) and lactase enzyme

*(LDD) Detection limit 0.01g/ml

Suitable for celiacs

100% cow milk, low fat, ultra pasturized and homogenized

Tag: milk

#FoodFriday Make Argentinian hot chocolate ‘Submarino’ in 4 easy steps