Breakfast · Nicaragua · Managua

Gallo Pinto ( Nicaraguan Rice and Red Beans, 'Rooster Paint' ) 🍽

Name: Gallo Pinto ( Nicaraguan Rice and Red Beans, 'Rooster Paint' )
Prep time: 18 min
Cook time: 27 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 2-4 servings
Cuisine: Nicaraguan
Ingredients: 3 cups cooked red beans with their cooking liquid (or 2 cans red kidney/pinto beans, undrained); 3 cups day-old cooked white rice, cold; 1 small onion; finely chopped; 1 sweet pepper (or 2 ají); finely chopped; 4 garlic cloves; minced; small bunch fresh coriander; chopped; 2 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp oil; 1 tsp ground cumin; pinch achiote (annatto) powder optional; 1 tbsp Salsa Lizart-style sauce, or: 1 tbsp dark vinegar + 1 tsp sugar + pinch clove; Salt to taste; To serve: crema (or sour cream), fried queso or feta, corn tortillas, coffee

Nicaragua's daily bread — except it's rice and red beans fried together until the grains wear the beans' cinnamon-brown paint, hence 'rooster painted.' Breakfast's backbone, lunch's understudy, served with sour cream (crema), fried cheese, a tortilla and coffee so strong it has opinions. The trick nobody tells you: day-old rice and cooked-with-everything beans, fried hard in butter with a touch of the bean liquid; fresh-cooked rice turns to paste. Costaricans make the same dish and call it 'gallo pinto' too; both countries will insist they invented it. Nicaragua's version leans on coriander and Achiote; here's the Managua way.

Central America Nicaraguan ⏱ 45 min Easy

Method

1

Open the beans in their liquid; if using cans, simmer 10 minutes with a chopped garlic clove and a splash of the Lizart blend to taste like home-cooked.
2

Melt butter with oil over medium-high. Fry onion and pepper 6-8 minutes until soft and the onion starts to candy at the edges. Add remaining garlic, cumin and achiote; stir 30 seconds.
3

Add the beans WITH all their liquid and the vinegar/sugar blend; scrape the fond up. Boil 3-4 minutes so it fragances like a stew.
4

Add cold rice in one sheet, and mix once, gently but thoroughly, coating every grain with the bean-stained liquid. Lower heat, cover, let it absorb 6-8 minutes — do not stir while it drinks.
5

Uncover, raise heat, fry for 2-3 minutes, turning from the edges, until fragrant and slightly toasty; fold in half the coriander. Season with salt.
6

Plate with more coriander, a slide of crema, fried cheese, warm tortillas. Best eaten at 7 a.m. with family arguing about politics.

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Gallo Pinto ( Nicaraguan Rice and Red Beans, 'Rooster Paint' ) 🍽

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