Arroz a la Cubana
A dish with four components: rice, fried egg, fried saba bananas and beef picadillo. It’s comfort food for my generation.
Servings 6 people
Ingredients
Beef picadillo
- 500 grams ground beef (1/1 pounds) with at least 30% fat
- 2 shallots peeled and chopped
- 6 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
- 2 sprigs oregano stripped
- salt
- pepper
- ½ cup chopped bell pepper
- ½ cup chopped carrot
- ½ cup sweet peas
- 2 cups diced tomatoes canned was used here
- 2 pinches sugar
To serve
- cooked rice
- eggs fried sunny side up
- 6 to 12 ripe saba bananas sliced and fried
- cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- Heat a pan and spread the ground beef. Cook without disturbing for a few minutes.
- Stir, breaking up clumps, and cook until fat has been rendered. Cook the beef in the rendered fat until lightly browned.
- Cook, stirring often, until the shallot pieces are just starting to turn translucent.
- Add the bell pepper, carrot and peas.
- Pour in the diced tomatoes and add the sugar.
- Stir until simmering.
- Cover the pan, set the heat to low and simmer for about ten minutes.
- Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed.
- Cover the pan once more and continue cooking until the mixture is quite dry.
- Give your picadillo a final taste, adjust the seasonings, if needed, before assembling the dish.
- Ladle rice into shallow bowls and top with egg. Arrange the beef picadillo on one side of the rice and the fried saba bananas on the other. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.
