Costa Rica

Gallo Pinto

Country #50 is completed!  I made Costa Rica's national dish, Gallo Pinto, on Wednesday, July 6 for Andy and me.  It is a black beans and rice dish, flavored with chicken bouillon and a special hot sauce I ordered from Costa Rica called Salsa Lizano.  The website from which I got this recipe tells me that it is the Salsa Lizano that makes gallo pinto different from other countries' rice and bean dishes.  It tastes like Worcestershire mixed with some tabasco.

Both Andy and I thought the meal was fine; he was a bit put off by the onions and peppers, and I thought that the Salsa Lizano overpowered every other flavor.  I didn't even feel like I could taste the rice or beans!  I ate my whole plate though, and will eat the leftovers for dinner tonight.

Gallo Pinto

INGREDIENTS:

-1 c. cooked rice

-1 c. cooked black beans, flavored with chicken bouillon

-1 small onion, diced

-1 small red pepper, diced

-2 cloves garlic, chopped

-1 T. vegetable oil

-1/4 c. cilantro, chopped

-4 T. Salsa Lizano

-1 chicken bouillon cube

-pinch of black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1) Fry onion, red pepper, garlic and cilantro in vegetable oil until soft, about three minutes.

2) Stir in black beans, Salsa Lizano, black pepper and chicken bouillon.  Cook for several more minutes.

3) Stir in rice.

4) Serve with sour cream and eggs (and fried plantains, which I didn't do).