Looking for some mental chewing gum the other day, I picked up the autobiography of a gold and diamond miner who worked his way around the world hunting precious metals and the like.
Before the miner pitched up in Australia and made his fortune on an iron business, he cut his teeth mining by working from one Central American country to another, stopping in in Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras along the way.
Six years ago, we did the same journey, starting off in Mexico and making our way down to Panama. It was a glorious trip, and thinking about it still makes me smile today.
Central American food may not be as well as known as, well, pretty much any cuisine you'd like to think about, but it still has some amazing dishes. Me and Mr FlickingtheVs still talk about the superbaleadas of Honduras, or the gallo pinto of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
Gallo pinto is the rice and beans dish that typifies Central American food for me, and although it's made with the simplest ingredients, it's completely delicious.
Reading about the miner's travels through Central America got me in the mood to make gallo pinto once again. Here's the version I make at home - it's not the most authentic, but it's still good. Serve with refried beans, corn tortillas, fried plantains, avocado, and curtido for a cracking and filling meal.
Brown rice gallo pinto
Serves three to four as part of a meal
Ingredients
175g brown rice
One white onion, thinly sliced
Two stalks of celery, chopping into small dice
One green pepper, chopped into small dice
Two garlic gloves, thinly sliced
two teaspoons of cumin
One 400g tin of black beans or pinto beans, drained
Two teaspoons of vegan Worcestershire sauce
Two teaspoons of soy sauce
Hot sauce to taste
How you do it
Put the brown rice on to cook.
Fry the onion in some oil until it begins to soften - say five minutes or so.
Then add in the celery, and cook another five minutes.
Add the pepper, cook another five minutes.
Add the black or pinto beans, garlic, and cumin, and continue cooking over a low heat until everything is nice and soft.
Once the rice is cooked, drain it, and put it into the vegetable mixture, add the soy and Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce if you're using it (I recommend you do.)
Dig in.
Looking for some mental chewing gum the other day, I picked up the autobiography of a gold and diamond miner who worked his way around th...
