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Prep time
20 minutes
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Cook time
1 hour
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Serves
6
Author Notes
Arroz a la Cubana is a household staple in the Philippines. My grandmother used to make the traditional Filipino version on Friday nights. It was easy to prepare, filling and comforting—perfect to end a busy and long week. A spoonful of rice, beef, and egg while my grandfather told his tales was all the comfort my little 6-year-old heart ever needed. My version is inspired by Queens, New York, where I live now. I love how all the different cultures just meld together and I have taken umami influences from different people around me. This dish takes me back home, tweaked with who and where I am today.
Arroz a la Cubana is characterized with rice and ground beef in tomato sauce, plus a fried egg. This recipe does away with the rice and replaces it with plantains with burnt, umami-rich ends. The ground beef recipe starts off with "sangkutsa," a common base for Filipino dishes that give off an umami flavor—sautéed garlic, onions, tomatoes, and fish sauce. Sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms add another umami dimension. Hints of fresh habanero in the beef complement the toasty caramelized flavor of the plantains. It is best served plated individually with a slightly runny egg on top to marry all the flavors. —Christine Jeanjaquet
Test Kitchen Notes
This dish does away with the traditional rice element of Arroz a la Cubana, and calls in deeply caramelized plantain “rice” instead. (While Christine cuts the plantains by hand, we used a food processor to blitz them down to size. Just make sure they're fairly firm if you're going this route.) Turns out, it’s the perfect base for rich, umami-laden beef. We loved this with a squeeze of citrus over the top!
This recipe was featured in "Umami Five Ways, Coming Right Up." —The Editors
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Ingredients
- Cubana Beef
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1 tablespoon
ghee or clarified butter
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3
sun-dried tomatoes
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1
onion
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1
fresh habanero pepper
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6
garlic cloves
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2 teaspoons
fish sauce
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8 ounces
shiitakes or baby bella mushrooms
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1 dash
salt
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1 dash
pepper
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2 pounds
ground beef
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1
(28-ounce) can peeled plum tomatoes
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12 ounces
tomato paste
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2
bay leaves
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1 handful
fresh cilantro, chopped
- Plantain Rice
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1 tablespoon
ghee or clarified butter
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3
plantains, just starting to turn yellow
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2
garlic cloves
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1 dash
salt
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1 dash
pepper
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1 dash
sweet paprika
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1
egg per person (optional)
Directions
- Cubana Beef
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Heat ghee in a large pan or braiser over medium heat. In the meantime, chop onions into 1/4-inch cubes. Chop habanero into tiny pieces (including seeds), about 1/8-inch and julienne sun-dried tomatoes about 1/8-inch wide. Smash and chop garlic into little pieces. Wash and slice the mushrooms and set aside.
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When the ghee is hot, sauté onions, habanero pepper, and sun-dried tomatoes. When the onions have turned translucent, add in the garlic.
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When the garlic has turned fragrant, lower heat a little and add in fish sauce. Keep mixing until the smell of the fish sauce has evaporated.
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Increase heat to medium-high and saute in the mushrooms. Add in salt and pepper.
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When the mushrooms have shrunk, add in the ground beef. Stir until the beef is completely incorporated. Cook until the beef is browned.
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Add in canned peeled tomatoes and tomato paste. Let boil for about 3 minutes then adjust heat to low. Add in bay leaves. Cover pan and let simmer for 40 minutes for all the flavors to meld.
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In the meantime, chiffonade the fresh cilantro.
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After 40 minutes, check the pot and adjust taste with salt and pepper. Mix in cilantro and cook for one minute more.
- Plantain Rice
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Smash and chop garlic into tiny pieces. Set aside. Chop plantains into 1/8-inch cubes. Season with salt, pepper and paprika.
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Heat ghee in a large saute pan or wok. When hot, cook in the garlic until fragrant.
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Sauté in seasoned plantains, making sure to incorporate them completely with ghee and garlic. Let sit and mix only every 3 to 4 minutes to let the plantains touching the pan caramelize. Keep doing this until you are happy with the volume of caramelization.
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Serve on individual plates with the Cubana beef with a slightly runny sunny side egg on top. If you want to forego the eggs, serve family-style in two separate serving dishes.
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