Gallo pinto

Ingredients

• Cooked rice — day-old, cold600 g
• Black beans — cooked, with liquid400 g
• Onion1
• Bell pepper1
• Garlic3 clove
• Salsa Lizano3 tbsp
• Coriander30 g
• Vegetable oil40 ml
• Eggs — to serve4
• Plantain — to serve2
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Fry the finely chopped onion, pepper and garlic in oil until soft, five minutes.

   7 min

2. 2

   Add the beans with a ladle of their liquid and warm them three minutes.

   5 min

3. 3

   Add the cold rice and stir, breaking up lumps with a spatula.

   4 min

4. 4

   Add the Salsa Lizano, season and fry over medium heat for seven minutes, stirring occasionally.

   9 min

5. 5

   Stir in the chopped coriander and take it off the heat.

   2 min

6. 6

   Serve with fried eggs, fried plantain and, if you like, soured cream or fresh cheese.

   10 min

About the dish

The rice must be yesterday's and cold. Fresh rice gives mush: the grains stick, and what is wanted is separate, slightly dried ones.

The beans go in with some of their cooking liquid, which stains the rice the speckled colour the dish is named for: "spotted rooster".

Salsa Lizano is Costa Rican, faintly sweet, made from vegetables and spices. Without it you get the Nicaraguan version of the same dish, and the difference is noticed here immediately.

Worth knowing

• — Add just enough bean liquid to colour the rice without soaking it. Usually a ladle, no more.
• — Without Salsa Lizano, Worcestershire sauce with a spoon of sugar is the usual substitute, though Costa Ricans do not approve of it.
• — Gallo pinto is made from last night's leftovers, and that is the point. Cooking rice the day before on purpose is standard practice in Costa Rican homes.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

480 kcal

Protein

18 g

Fat

12 g

Carbs

76 g

More from Costa Rica

• Casado — A lunch plate of rice, beans, salad, plantain and meat, each in its own sector.