I recently learned of the comfort food Arroz a la Cubana which is usually translated as “Cuban-style rice” but I prefer to translate it as “Cuban rice.” This is to keep it in accordance with “French fries” since, like French Fries, the dish did not originate from Cuba. (The “French” in “french fries” refers to deep-frying which was considered a French technique at the time.) There are many varieties of Arroz a la Cubana across the world and it usually consists of rice, tomato sauce, and a fried egg served with a fried banana. However, the variety I will be sharing is based off the Filipino version which was developed during Spanish colonization of the Philippines. Instead of tomato sauce it uses a ground meat hash (i.e., a picadillo).

Arroz a la Cubana is a pantry-clearer and a comfort food so the recipe is not particular. If you don’t like any ingredients listed here then ignore them or use your own. If you think that some ingredient will taste good if added, then try it, it will probably work.

Ingredients

Picadillo

• 1 lb. ground beef or pork
• 1 diced medium onion
• 1 diced bell pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 oz red wine
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• frozen peas, to taste
• raisins, to taste
• salt, to taste
• freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Rice

• 24 oz white rice, washed
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bay leaves

Banana

• 1/2 plantain sliced as coins

Cooking instructions

1. In your rice cooker add a thin layer of olive oil. Then add rice, water, four cloves of minced garlic, and bay leaves. Cook using the setting you use for plain white rice.
2. While the rice is cooking add your ground meat to a skillet (a very large frying pan will suffice). Spread it in a thin layer and add a generous amount of salt and pepper. Cook until browned, then break the meat up with a wooden cooking spoon.
3. Add the onions and bell pepper and cook until the onions are translucent.
4. Add two cloves of minced garlic and tomato paste and stir until fragrant. Deglaze with red wine.
5. Add potatoes with additional salt and stir for a few minutes, hopefully lightly searing the potatoes.
6. Add the tomatoes, frozen peas, and raisins and stir until combined.
7. Add soy sauce and oyster sauce and then add chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until liquid is reduced.
8. Taste and season to your liking.
9. In a small frying pan add a layer of olive oil and fry the plantains until both sides are browned.
10. In the same frying pan add a single egg. Baste the egg with oil until the yolk is cooked.
11. On a plate add a serving of rice topped with a fried egg. Add a pile of picadillo and fried plantain on the side.

Notes

• This is a heavy dish so serve on a small plate or bowl. I overate the first time I tried this–your eyes will likely be bigger than your stomach on this one.
• I used two garlic cloves when cooking the rice and there was not enough garlic flavor in the result, hence I bumped the recipe to four cloves even I have not tried it. Use your judgement.
• I added half a seeded habanero to the picadillo which made it quite spicy. Jalapenos, serranos, or red pepper flakes would also work.
• The raisins add sweetness and a fruity flavor that benefits the dish but you can ignore them if you think that sounds gross. If you are skipping the raisins then consider adding some sugar, or perhaps an additional bell pepper or carrots.
• My roommate suggested that dried currants would be even better than raisins but they are expensive.
• Diced carrots are a very common addition. A mirepoix would probably be delicious, too.
• In the Phillipines this dish is typically served with a Saba banana, a starchy cooking banana native to the region. I only have access to plantains where I live so I used that in the recipe. Redditors claim you can use a green banana if you don’t have access to plantains.
• For the tomatoes I used canned peeled tomatoes and added a few tablespoons of the tomato puree as well.
• This dish reheats very well. I store the rice and picadillo separately and microwave them together when I am making it again–I fry the plantains and egg while the microwave is running. Plantains freeze very well and can be fried when frozen, so freeze your plantains once they are ripe.
• If your plantains aren’t ripe then I recommend sprinkling them with sugar or some other sweetener.