Arroz a la cubana
Arroz a la cubana.jpg
Arroz a la cubana - Rice smothered with tomato sauce, plantains and a fried egg
CourseMain course
Place of originCuba
Serving temperatureHot
Main ingredientsRice, fried egg, tomato sauce

Arroz a la cubana (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈroθ a la kuˈβana]) (Cuban-style rice) or arroz cubano is a rice dish popular in several Hispanic countries. Its defining ingredients are rice and a fried egg. A plantain or banana, and tomato sauce, are so frequently used as often to be considered defining ingredients.[1][2] In Catalonia, sausages frequently stand in for the plantains. Its origin is not definitively known; various informal sources state without references that it originated in Peru,[3] the Philippines,[4] etc. Some authors consider that it may have originated from rice dishes with fried eggs from Cuba when it was a Spanish colony.[5]

There are many minor variations, even within the same regions.

In Spain, a typical dish of arroz a la cubana consists of a serving of white rice with tomato sauce and a fried egg. Sometimes a plantain[6] or banana[7] is fried with the other ingredients.[2]

Arroz a la cubana has been eaten in the Philippines since Spanish colonial times.[8] The modern version always includes ground beef cooked with tomatoes or tomato sauce, and this beef preparation by itself corresponds to picadillo in Latin America. In other words, arroz a la cubana in the Philippines is a combination of picadillo and arroz a la cubana as understood in other countries. It typically consists of ground beef sauteed with onions, garlic, tomato sauce, diced potatoes, raisins, and diced carrots, plus white rice, a fried egg and a ripe native banana, sliced length-wise and fried.[2]

In Peru, it is common for the dish to consist of white rice, fried plantain, a fried hot-dog wiener, and a fried egg over the white rice.[6]

The dish is not popular or known in Cuba itself.

References

  1. ^ Ismael Sarmiento Ramírez, (2003), Alimentación y relaciones sociales en la Cuba colonial, Anales del Museo de América, ISSN 1133-8741, Nº. 11, pp 197-226 (in Spanish)
  2. ^ a b c Arroz a la Cubana (Cuban Rice), The Philippine Way. This variant uses banana.
  3. ^ "Arroz a la cubana - a Peruvian dish" Archived 2014-06-06 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
  4. ^ Arroz a la Cubana
  5. ^ Cándido Hurones, (2009), Cómo freír un huevo. La innovación didáctica al servicio de la docencia universitaria, Entelequia: revista interdisciplinar, ISSN-e 1885-6985, No. 10, pp. 239-252 (in Spanish)
  6. ^ a b Recipe from Perú, using plantain
  7. ^ In most Spanish-speaking countries, "plátano" means both "plantain" and "banana". For example, a recipe given in both English and Spanish by a cookery school in Spain gives "plátano" in the Spanish version of a recipe [1] Archived 2014-06-07 at the Wayback Machine, and "banana" in the English translation [2] Archived 2014-06-07 at the Wayback Machine. In other Spanish-speaking countries the word "banana" as in English is used.
  8. ^ Antonio Quilis,Celia Casado Fresnillo, (2008), La lengua española en Filipinas: Historia. Situación actual, CSIC, Madrid. (in Spanish)
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