Arroz a la cubana

Arroz a la cubana - Rice smothered with tomato sauce, plantains and a fried egg
Course	Main course
Place of origin	Unknown, possibly Spain
Serving temperature	Hot
Main ingredients	Rice, fried egg, tomato sauce
Media: Arroz a la cubana

Arroz a la cubana (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈroθ a la kuˈβana]) ("Cuban-style rice") or arroz cubano is a rice dish popular in Spain, the Philippines, and parts of Latin America. Its defining ingredients are rice and a fried egg. A fried banana ( plantain or other cooking bananas) and tomato sauce ( sofrito) are so frequently used that they are often considered defining ingredients too. ^{[1] [2]}

Despite the name, the dish does not exist in Cuban cuisine and its origins are not definitively known. ^{[3] [4]} It may possibly originate from a Spanish misinterpretation of common Cuban meals of eating rice with stews and a fried egg when Cuba was still a Spanish colony. ^{[3] [5]}

By region

Spain

In Spain, a typical dish of arroz a la cubana consists of a serving of white rice with tomato sauce ( sofrito) and a fried egg. While the most traditional recipe includes a fried plantain (plátano), ^[6] it is also common to find the recipe using sausages and bacon. ^[5]

Philippines

In the Philippines, arroz a la cubana has been eaten in the Philippines since Spanish colonial times. ^[6] Like in other versions, it comes with white rice, fried egg, and some ripe fried cardava or saba banana, sliced length-wise. ^{[7] [2] [8]}

It differs significantly from the Spanish and Latin American versions in that instead of a sofrito, it always includes ground meat (giniling, usually beef) in tomato sauce. ^[7] This component is typically cooked picadillo-style, with minced potatoes, carrots, raisins, peas, onions, garlic, and other ingredients in a tomato-based sauce seasoned with patis (fish sauce), soy sauce, and sometimes chilis. ^{[8] [9] [2] [10]}

A regional variant of arroz a la cubana is arroz de Calamba from Calamba, Laguna. It differs in that it is served with strips of smoked fish ( tinapa). ^[11]

Peru

In Peru, it is common for the dish to consist of white rice, fried plantain, a fried hot-dog wiener, and a fried egg over the white rice. ^[12]

References