Pabellón Criollo – Venezuela's National Dish

Name: Pabellón Criollo – Venezuela's National Dish
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 100 min
Total time: 120 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Argentine
Ingredients: 1 kg beef for shredding (flank, brisket or skirt); 400 g black beans (caraotas negras); 400 g long-grain white rice; 2 ripe plantains (with yellow-black skin); 2 large onions, finely chopped; 1 red pepper, finely chopped; 1 green pepper, finely chopped; 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed; 400 g crushed plum tomatoes; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 tbsp sweet paprika; Neutral oil, as needed, for the sofritos and for frying; Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

⏱ 2 h in total🔪 20 min prep🍳 1 h 40 min cooking🍽 6 portiesMedium

The pabellón criollo is Venezuela's best-known dish: four homemade preparations together on one plate — shredded beef, black beans, white rice and slices of ripe plantain.

Start the night before: the beans go in to soak. On the day, it is mostly waiting — an hour and a half for the beef — and that wait produces what holds the rest together: the beef broth goes into the beans and into the rice as well. Throwing it away is the one serious mistake in this recipe.

And ripe plantain means genuinely ripe: yellow with black patches, because only then do they caramelise.

Ingredients

Measurements

🍽 6 servings

1 kg beef for shredding (flank, brisket or skirt)
400 g black beans (caraotas negras)
400 g long-grain white rice
2 ripe plantains (with yellow-black skin)
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 green pepper, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
400 g crushed plum tomatoes
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp sweet paprika
Neutral oil, as needed, for the sofritos and for frying
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

1
Cooking and shredding the beef: in a large pot with plenty of water and a pinch of salt, boil the beef for an hour and a half, or until it is completely tender. Take the meat out, let it cool a little and shred it with your hands along the grain. Do not throw the broth away! Strain it and keep it for the following steps.
2
The black beans (caraotas): soak the black beans overnight. Cook them in a pot of fresh water until soft. In a separate pan, make a sofrito with half of the onion, the garlic and the chopped peppers. Add this sofrito to the beans along with a cup of the reserved beef broth, half of the cumin and salt to taste. Cook over low heat until the liquid thickens.
3
Stewing the shredded beef: in a large pan, make the remaining sofrito with the other half of the onion, peppers and garlic. When they are tender, add the crushed tomatoes, the paprika, the rest of the cumin, salt and pepper. Add the shredded beef and a cup of the reserved broth. Mix well and let it stew over low heat for 20 minutes, until the meat has taken up the flavours and the liquid has almost completely reduced.
4
Cooking the white rice: in a small pot, fry a crushed garlic clove in a splash of oil. Add the 400 g of rice and toast it for 1 minute. Pour in 800 ml of the hot beef broth (or water), salt to taste and cook over medium heat until the water has evaporated from the surface. Turn the heat to its lowest, cover the pot and cook for another 12 minutes until the grain is loose and al dente.
5
Frying the sweet plantain slices: peel the ripe plantains and cut them diagonally into slices about 0.5 cm thick (tajadas). Heat plenty of neutral oil in a pan and fry them over medium heat until golden and caramelised on both sides. Drain on kitchen paper.
6
Traditional plating: serve each plate with the four components arranged separately but together around the plate: a portion of white rice, one of black beans, one of shredded beef, and crown one side with the hot fried plantain slices.