(Source: cheetsheet.com and puerto-Rico-guide.com and Pinterest and unsplash and New York Times and Wikipedia and Metro.com and Traveltours.com and jessdales.com and Scoff video and Gabe Arredondo video and Costa Rica cooking and The Art of Unity video and titotam video)
••••GALLO PINTO (COASTA RICA) 🇨🇷!!
8-10 sprigs cilantro (coriander leaf) fresh or frozen, not dried!
1 small or medium onion
½ small red or yellow sweet pepper (optional)
3 cups (700 ml) chicken broth or water
2 cups (350 ml) white rice
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
1 Tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil
1-3 Tablespoon oil to fry the Gallo Pinto
••••ENJOY THE VIDEO!!
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 an inch (2.5-cm) above the top of the beans and bring to a boil.
Cover the pan and reduce heat to very low simmer until beans are soft (~3 hours). Add salt.
Chop cilantro, onion, and sweet pepper very fine.
••••ENJOY THE VIDEO!!
Add water or chicken broth, bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer until rice is tender (20-35 minutes).
This is also the recipe for Tico rice used in other favorites like tamales.
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 sautéing them together.
Keep a significant amount of the "black water" with the beans (½-1 cup 120-240 ml).
This is what gives the rice its color and some of its flavor.
Sauté the rice, beans reserved chopped onion, sweet pepper and cilantro together in vegetable oil for a few minutes.
Sprinkle with a little fresh chopped cilantro just before serving.
Gallo Pinto con huevos
In Guanacaste they sometimes use small very hot red peppers instead of or in addition to the sweet.
Some people add a tablespoon or so of salsa Lizano or Chilera to the beans while they’re cooking.
Our friend Mercedes always simmered the beans very slowly all-day and preheated the water or chicken broth for the rice.
