Colombian Bandeja Paisa (The Ultimate Mountain Platter)
Colombia's iconic mountain feast platter featuring braised red beans, seasoned ground beef, crispy pork chicharrón, grilled chorizo, fried egg, plantains, avocado, and arepa.
Ingredients
- • 500g Colombian red beans (frijoles cargamanto), cooked with pork belly
- • 400g ground beef, seasoned and sautéed with hogao
- • 4 thick strips pork belly with skin (chicharrón), scored into ribbons and deep-fried crisp
- • 4 Colombian chorizos, grilled
- • 4 fried eggs (huevos fritos), sunny-side up
- • 2 ripe plantains, sliced and fried golden (tajadas)
- • 2 ripe avocados, sliced into fans
- • 4 white corn arepas paisas
- • 1 cup Colombian Hogao sauce (sautéed tomatoes, spring onions, garlic and cumin)
- • Steamed white rice, to serve
Preparation Steps
Simmer soaked cargamanto beans with pork belly, grated green plantain, cumin, and salt for 1.5 hours until thick and creamy.
Score pork belly skin into 1cm fingers; boil in salted water with 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda for 15 minutes, pat bone-dry, and deep-fry in hot oil at 180°C until skin blisters into crispy crackling.
Sauté minced beef in a skillet with 3 tbsp of fresh Hogao sauce until browned and fragrant.
Fry plantain slices (tajadas) until sweet and golden; grill chorizos; fry eggs sunny-side up.
On a large oval platter, mound steamed white rice and a bowl of creamy red beans; arrange the seasoned ground beef, crispy chicharrón, grilled chorizo, fried egg, sweet plantain tajadas, avocado slice, and white arepa.
Serve hot with extra Hogao sauce on the side.