10 April 2008
Costa Rica’s National Gallo Pinto Day
Posted by Thomas under: Social Events .
Costa Rica’s first ever ‘National Gallo Pinto Day’ starts this weekend
If you have ever been to Costa Rica you would have become familiar with one of their most famous and typical dishes – Gallo Pinto. A blend that mainly consists of rice, beans and Salsa Lizano and that will be offered for free this weekend on Paseo Colon.
Free Gallo Pinto is on offer this Sunday as Costa Rica take parts in their first ever National Gallo Pinto Party which is suspected to feed around 30,000 hungry participants. The fiesta is expected to start at 9am on the Sunday and go until 3pm, however rains may cause the event to end earlier than expected.
Chefs of the hotel Ramada Plaza Herradura have been working on preparing the ingredients this week which include a massive 2,000 kilos of beans and huge 1,800 kilos of rice. The chefs who are no stranger to the typical Costa Rican dish claim that despite the large amount of numbers that will be cooked up, the Gallo Pinto will not lose any of its flavour.
Gallo Pinto has many variations but it mainly consists of rice, beans, coriander, onion, peppers and of course Salsa Lizano. The beans and rice are cooked until most of the juice has disappeared. Gallo Pinto means ‘spotted rooster’ which is given as the bean juice usually colours the cooked rice to give it a speckled look.
Gallo Pinto is an integral part of Costa Rica’s food culture which is the same for Nicaragua. Nicaraguans however use red beans in their Gallo Pinto whilst Costa Ricans use black beans in theirs and they claim that it is their country where Gallo Pinto came from although no one really knows for sure.
Fancy making Gallo Pinto yourself? Then try our recipe!
Gallo Pinto Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup of white rice. Cooked and preferably 1 day old after cooking.
- 1 can cooked black beans
- 2 crushed cloves of garlic
- 1 finely chopped red pepper
- 1 finely chopped onion
- 2 spoonfuls Olive oil
- 2 Teaspoons Sesame oil
- 3 Tablespoons Salsa Lizano
- Fresh coriander
- Salt & pepper for flavour
Steps
- Heat both of the oils in a large pan over medium heat.
- Add the onion, pepper and garlic and saute for about 5 minutes, until brown.
- Add the black beans including juice.
- Bring to the boil before adding the rice.
- Simmer on a low-medium temperature until juice has dissappeared.
- Finally, add the coriander, salsa Lizano and salt and pepper to enhance the flavour.
- The Gallo Pinto can be accompanied with eggs, cheese, bread, green salad or a mix of them all.
This should take about 30-40 minutes to cook and serve around about 4 people. Change the ingredient amounts to change the amount of portions.
(2 votes, average: 2 out of 5)
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2 Comments so far...
Carole Says:
12 April 2008 at 2:57 pm.
WOW, is this going to be an anuual event? I will plan my Costa Rica holidays accordingly. I love this dish.
Kristi Says:
2 May 2008 at 10:25 am.
I recently went on a trip to Costa Rica with my school. I absolutely LOVE the country to death. At first I wasn’t a fan of the gallo pinto. But after having for every meal for two weeks solid, it became one of my favorite dishes. I’d love to visit Costa Rica again sometime, hopefully during this event!
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