Cuban rice recipe

This Arroz Cubano, also known as Arroz a la Cubana, is a dish you can find in many places in Spanish speaking countries. It´s very popular in Spain as part of the “Menu del día” in many restaurants.

For me, it´s one of the dishes of my childhood, when my mum cooked it for lunch on Saturdays. She didn´t have too much time to cook after spending the morning doing house chores so this dish was quick, easy and filling. For the rest of the family, it was a meal we loved not only because of the flavours but because it meant it was the weekend and we were able to relax and break the rules of the formal meals we had during the week, with the first and second course, and dessert: we had everything in only one plate!

Ingredients for 4 people

• 250 g rice (paella rice for example)

• 1 clove of garlic

• 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

• 100 ml sunflower oil

• 1 tomato can

• Salt

• Sugar

• 600 ml water

• 4 eggs

• 4 ripe bananas

Method

• First, prepare the tomato sauce. Put a tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a pan in medium heat. Add the tomato can, season with a pinch of salt and sugar, stir and cook until the liquid is gone. Turn the heat off and keep it aside.

• In a deep pan, heat 3 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and add the clove of garlic. Simmer for a couple of minutes until is golden (but be careful as you don´t want to burn it) and the oil has got the flavour. Add the rice and stir quickly until the rice is slightly fried. Then add the water, season with salt and cook in high heat until the water starts to boil. Then, turn the heat to medium and continue cooking.

• After 20 minutes, check if the rice is cooked. maybe you will have to add a bit more of water. And cook for another 5 minutes. When the rice is cooked, let it rest for a couple of minute and plate it.

• While the rice is cooking, prepare the bananas. Peel them off and brush them with oil. Put a frying pan in medium heat and fry them, turning over each side. Keep them aside.

• Have the plates ready. Using a small bowl, brush it with oil, fill it with rice and flip it over on the plate so you have a shaped round scoop of rice.

• Serve a spoon of tomato sauce on top.

• While you plate the rice and have the portions ready, in a frying pan, heat the sunflower oil. When it starts to whirl, fry the eggs, one by one, and put on top of the rice and tomato sauce.

• Serve with a banana in one side.