Name: Pabellón Criollo
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Total time: 3 h
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Venezuelan
Ingredients: 1 kg beef flank or skirt, in one piece; 1 onion, halved; 2 bay leaves; 1 tsp black peppercorns; 2 tbsp neutral oil; 1 onion, finely sliced; 1 red pepper, finely sliced; 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 x 400 g tin chopped tomatoes; 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 1 ½ tsp fine sea salt; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 onion, finely chopped; 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 1 tsp ground cumin; 2 x 400 g tins black beans, drained; 250 ml water; 1 tsp fine sea salt; 1 tbsp cane sugar; 400 g long-grain white rice, cooked; 3 very ripe plantains, black-skinned, sliced on the diagonal; 4 tbsp neutral oil, for frying

Pabellón Criollo

Venezuela's national plate: shredded beef, black beans, white rice and fried sweet plantain, served side by side and never mixed. Four separate things that only make sense together.

3 hr total Serves 6 servings Medium

Making Pabellón Criollo

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Put the beef in a pot with the halved onion, bay and peppercorns, cover with water, and simmer gently 2 hours until it pulls apart easily.
Lift it out, cool slightly, and shred it along the grain with two forks. Keep 250 ml of the cooking stock.
Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a wide pan and cook the sliced onion and pepper 8 minutes, then the garlic and cumin for 1 minute.
Add the shredded beef and fry 6 minutes, letting it catch and brown against the base.
Add the tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, salt and the reserved stock, and simmer 20 minutes until thick and glossy.
For the beans, heat the olive oil and cook the onion 8 minutes, then the garlic and cumin for 1 minute.
Add the beans, water, salt and sugar and simmer 20 minutes, mashing a few against the side to thicken, until saucy rather than soupy.
Heat the frying oil in a pan and fry the plantain slices 2 to 3 minutes a side, until deeply caramelised and soft. Drain on kitchen paper.
Serve on wide plates with the rice, beans, beef and plantain in four separate piles, touching but not mixed.

Related guide: Choosing rice.

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Tips for Making Pabellón Criollo

Black plantains, not yellow. A yellow plantain is starchy and fries to cardboard.
Fry the shredded beef properly in the sofrito. That browning is where the flavour is.
Everything except the plantain can be made a day ahead and is better for it.

Ingredient Swaps

An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

What to Serve with Pabellón Criollo

A fried egg on top, which makes it a caballo
Cold beer
Arepas

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Pan de Jamón.

Keeping and Reheating

The beef and beans keep 4 days refrigerated and freeze for 3 months. Fry the plantain to order.