I fell off the blogwagon.
But I am hoping to redeem myself with a new recipe, one culled from S’s and my trip to Costa Rica! We spent a week warming up in Puerto Viejo, a small town on the Southern Caribbean coast, eating as much coconut and fruit as we could stuff into our sunburned bodies.
So here’s my recipe for super delicious coconut enhanced Gallo Pinto, or ‘spotted rooster’, of which there were many in Puerto Viejo, running around on the gravel streets, macking on the lady chickens:
One day ahead of time, pour one and a half cups of white rice into a pot. On the side, stir together a can of light coconut milk and however much water it takes to make three cups of combined coconut milk and water. Add that to the pot.
Heat the rice and coconut milk on the stove until it boils, and then simmer it down until the rice is soft and tasty. Then store the rice until the next day.
On the next day, chop up one small red bell pepper, one medium sized onion, and saute in a pan with a few tablespoons of oil until slightly soft. I added some salt and pepper at this point, too. Then pour in one can of drained black beans, and saute that with the onions and pepper for about two minutes. (Sidenote: all the recipes I read said to also add Salsa Lizano or, if you don’t have that, Worcester Sauce. I did neither and it still turned out tasty.)
Finally, add the three cups of day-old coconut rice and stir until the rice is heated, about five minutes. Stir in some roughly chopped fresh cilantro, and you’ve got Gallo Pinto, Puerto Viejo style!
In Puerto Viejo, our Gallo Pinto was often served with scrambled eggs and white cheese. Once it came with delicious jonny cakes, a recipe I’m still trying to pin down. But Gallo Pinto is also great on its own, especially when washed down with some fresh fruit juice.
I have a few more recipes I want to try from our trip, since the food was so superb. Check back soon (really! I mean it!) for some more tasty things to try.
In the meantime, I’m pondering titles for my recipe book. I was considering the comic book inspired ‘Eat… or DIE!!!’ which is true, if a bit fatalistic. However, the current top title, which lacks the same pizazz but is more cheerful, is: ‘Eat Like Me!’ In any case, all suggestions are most welcome.
