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Bandeja paisa
Bandeja paisa: Antioquia's big platter of beans, rice, pork belly, chorizo, beef, egg and plantain
Bandeja paisa is the farmhouse feast of Antioquia and the coffee region around Medellín, served on an oval platter so big it barely fits on the table. This is a pork dish: crisp chicharrón (fried pork belly) and chorizo sit next to red beans, white rice, seasoned minced beef, a fried egg, ripe plantain, a small arepa and avocado. Paisas eat it for a long Sunday lunch, and restaurants in Medellín serve it every day. It looks like a lot of work, but most parts can be made ahead and finished together. The mistake most people make is frying the pork belly too hot from the start; it needs to simmer in its own fat first, or the outside burns before the inside turns tender. Chef's tip: cook the beans a day ahead; they thicken and taste better, and the day itself is then only frying.
- Total time
- 190 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the beans
For the hogao (tomato and onion sauce)
For the meats
For the platter
Method
0/12 doneStep 1: Drain 10 ½ oz dried red kidney or cranberry beans and put them in a large pot with 6 ¼ cups water and 1 carrot. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 1½–2 hours, until creamy-soft. Add hot water if they dry out; they should stay soupy.
110 minStep 2: Meanwhile make the hogao: heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a frying pan over a medium heat, add 4 spring onions and cook for 4 minutes. Add 3 tomatoes, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp ground cumin and ½ tsp salt and cook for 10–12 minutes until thick and jammy.
16 minStep 3: When the beans are soft, stir in half the hogao and 1 tsp salt. Simmer for 10 minutes more. Keep warm.
10 minStep 4: Rub 1 ⅛ lb pork belly, skin on with 1 tsp salt and ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda. Put it skin side down in a cold heavy frying pan with 100 ml water. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat and cook until the water has gone and the fat starts to run, about 20 minutes, turning once.
20 minStep 5: Keep cooking the belly in its own fat over a medium-low heat, turning, for 15–20 minutes more until the skin puffs and crackles and the meat reaches at least 160°F inside. Stand back: it spits. Drain on kitchen paper.
20 minStep 6: In the same fat fry 4 fresh Colombian or cooking chorizo sausages over a medium heat, turning, for 12–15 minutes until browned all over and 160°F in the middle with no pink. Drain and keep warm with the chicharrón.
14 minStep 7: Put 10 ½ oz long-grain white rice, 2 ½ cups water and ½ tsp salt in a pan, bring to the boil, then cover and cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and rest, lid on, for 10 minutes.
25 minStep 8: In a clean pan brown 10 ½ oz lean minced beef with ½ tsp salt over a high heat, breaking it into fine crumbs, for 8 minutes until no pink remains. Stir in the rest of the hogao and cook 2 minutes more. Mince must reach 160°F.
10 minStep 9: Heat 4 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry 2 very ripe plantains for 3 minutes a side until deep golden and caramelised. Drain.
6 minStep 10: Warm 4 small white corn arepas in a dry pan for 2 minutes a side.
4 minStep 11: Fry 4 eggs in the plantain pan until the whites are set and the edges lacy; keep the yolks runny if you like.
4 minStep 12: Build each platter: a mound of rice, a bowl or pile of beans, a spoon of minced beef, a piece of chicharrón, a chorizo, plantain, an arepa, a fried egg on the rice and slices of 2 avocado. Serve at once. Cool leftover beans and meats within 2 hours and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 1350 kcal
- Protein
- 62 g
- Carbs
- 118 g
- Fat
- 70 g
- Fibre
- 18 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bandeja paisa take?
- About 190 minutes in total: 40 minutes to prepare and 150 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of carrot?
- Parsnip or sweet potato, same weight.
- What can I use instead of spring onions?
- Chives, or a little finely sliced onion.
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