Today’s recipe belongs to the culinary tradition of Venezuela, a country well known by the Galician people, for generations. My in-laws, like many other Galicians, emigrated to this country in the first half of the 20th century. There, besides keeping their traditions alive, they also decided to adopt many of the Creole customs this host country had to offer; among them the Pabellón Criollo.
The origins of this dish are like myths, they vary depending on who the narrator is. According to the articles I had access to, initially, the birth of the Pabellón seemed to be orchestrated in the humblest way possible. The Pabellón we know today was the culinary composition achieved by African slaves (brought to Venezuela in the eighteenth century) making the most of the scarce food had access to. Once again, we see how the great gastronomic milestones that define peoples are modest dishes (product of necessity) that not only took away hunger, but also sheltered the heart.
Symbolically, according to researcher Norberto E. Petryk, each element / food within this dish plays a very important representative role, as it would be representing the four cultures that make up Venezuela.
• The shredded beef symbolizes the mestization of the peoples of Venezuela.
• Rice represents the Europeans who invaded Venezuela.
• The caraotas (or black beans) evoke the African ethnicity.
• Fried banana would personify the aborigines.
Be that as it may, today the Pabellón is recognized as the national dish par excellence in Venezuela and, like any great dish, its variations are countless. Today we are going to pay homage to the typical Creole Pabellón of Caracas, the city where my in-laws lived. My recipe will be a free adaptation of the version Armando Scannone presented in his famous recipe book Mi cocina, a la manera de Caracas (1982).
Tip: Read carefully! This recipe, although simple, has several processes to follow.
| Process 1: Caraotas’ soup |
• We will prepare the caraotas’ soup 24 hours in advance.
| Ingredients for caraotas’ soup: |
• 300 gr of black beans
• ½ onion
• ½ red pepper
| Instructions: |
• Soak the caraotas 24 hours in advance.
• Put the caraotas, onion and pepper in a pressure cooker for 60 minutes.
• Let stand until the next day.
| Process 2: Shredded beef |
| Ingredients: |
• 500gr of veal skirt.
• ½ chopped onion.
• 6 cloves of chopped garlic.
• ½ chopped pepper.
• 1 chopped peeled tomato.
• 4 gr of ají or sweet paprika.
• 20 ml of Perrins sauce.
• 4 grams of ground cumin.
• 2 tablespoons ketchup.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
| Instructions: |
• Cook the meat in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes.
• Let the meat cool and then shred.
• Fry the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent.
• Add the chopped pepper and the paprika. Fry for 1 minute.
• Add the tomato, Perrins sauce, salt, pepper and cumin. Let cook for 10 minutes.
• Pour the ketchup, meat and the remaining broth from cooking the meat. Boil over high heat and then leave over medium-low heat until reduced.
| Process 3: Rice |
• Cook the rice and then mix with the caraotas. In this case, I used Thai rice to give it a floral kick, but you can use whatever you like. As for the amounts, I usually count about 4 tablespoons per person.
| Process 4: Bananas |
• Cut a ripe banana into slices.
• Fry the banana over medium heat.
| Process 5: Form the Pabellón |
• Mix the rice with the caraotas, using some of the remaining soup to amalgamate, if necessary, before serving.
• Place on a plate a portion of rice with caraotas, the shredded beef and, finally, a couple of banana slices.
Enjoy!
Recendo 