Rico
COSTA RICA EXTRA (NRToday.com) Traveling has given me an appreciation – and healthy respect – for ethnic foods of all kinds.
My husband, Nick, and I first discovered this tasty dish while he was studying abroad in Costa Rica. Many of the dishes we sampled were variations on well known hispanic foods, but with their own Costa Rican flair.
Since our first excursion abroad together, we’ve found food to be a common interest and one with exciting (and sometimes dangerous) potential.
Costa Rican-style rice and beans is a safe one we’ve come to love. Made with coconut milk, black beans and white rice, this is a staple for most Costa Ricans.
It is the main component of the casado, a meal whose name is essentially translated as “married man” because the rice and the beans are always together. Ensalada rusa would be the salad element of this meal, very similar to a potato salad. Casado typically includes rice, black beans, plantains, a salad, a tortilla, and an optional meat dish.
Almost everywhere we went – from San José to both coasts – this meal was served, usually with Salsa Lizano (a unique Costa Rican sauce) as a condiment. We enjoyed these foods so much, we spent all day making each one to serve at our engagement dinner on our return home.
If you are interested in trying something fun and new, buy a few plantains from Sherm’s. You’ll almost always find them green (if you’re lucky, yellow), so put them in a paper bag, fold it closed and wait for them to turn a splotchy black and yellow. Slice them up and fry them in oil until they are bright yellow and slightly browned.
They are a delicious treat all by themselves – one that always reminds me of the day Nick proposed in the canopy of the Costa Rican jungle.
