Gallo Pinto is a traditional Costa Rican recipe for a classic dish of rice blended with black beans, onion, corinder and bell pepper. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Costa Rican version of: Gallo Pinto.
(click this button to prevent the screen from sleeping so Cook Mode is 'ON')
This rice and beans dish is shared by Costa Rica and Nicaragua, with both countries claiming it as their national dish. It is usually served for breakfast along with scrambled or fried eggs and sour cream or cheese.
Ingredients:
500g Black beans. Fresh are best but most likely you'll find them dried.
8-10 sprigs fresh coriander, finely chopped
1 small or medium onion, finely chopped
½ small red or yellow bell pepper (optional), finely chopped
750ml chicken stock or water
400g white rice
½ teaspoon salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1-3 tbsp oil, for frying
Method:
If beans are dried, cover with water and soak overnight, if they are “fresh” (still dried, but only from laying out in the sun like they do in Costa Rica), just rise them off. Drain the beans and add fresh water to 3cm above the top of the beans and bring to a boil. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to a very low simmer and cook until until beans are soft (~3 hours). Once cooked, season with salt to taste.
Add 1 tbsp oil to a large pan and use to fry the dry rice for 2 minutes over medium high heat then add half of the chopped onion, bell pepper and coriander and fry for another 2 minutes. Add water or chicken stock, bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Continue cooking until rice is tender (20-35 minutes).
Once the rice and beans are cooked you can refrigerate or freeze them. Make up small batches of Gallo Pinto when you want it by simply frying them together.
Keep a significant amount of the “black water” with the beans (120-240 ml). This is what gives the rice its colour and some of its flavour. Sauté the rice, cooked and drained beans reserved chopped onion, bell pepper and coriander together in vegetable oil for a few minutes. Add a little of the reserved bean cooking liquid to moisten (do not make two wet). Sprinkle with a little fresh chopped coriander just before serving.
Click on the image, above to submit to Pinterest.