Dominican Republic
Rice, beans and stewed meat under the name of the flag, plantains three ways, and rum-steeped mamajuana.
Sit down to lunch anywhere on the island and the everyday plate is la bandera — 'the flag' — white rice, red beans and stewed meat, named for the colours of the nation and eaten almost daily. Dominican cooking is a Spanish-African-Taíno blend built on rice, beans and the plantain, which shows up at every meal: mashed for breakfast mangú, twice-fried into tostones, or piled up as garlicky mofongo.
Breakfast is los tres golpes, 'the three hits' — that mangú under fried cheese, salami and eggs. Weekends and celebrations call for sancocho, a deep stew of several meats and root vegetables ladled over rice with avocado on the side. Roadside stands crackle with chicharrón, and you drink cold Presidente beer or mamajuana, a jug of bark and herbs steeped in rum, red wine and honey. At Easter the whole country simmers sweet spiced red beans into habichuelas con dulce.
- La bandera (rice
- beans & stewed meat)
- Mangú (mashed green plantain)
- Sancocho (many-meat stew)
- Tostones (twice-fried plantain)
- Mofongo (mashed fried plantain)
- Chicharrón (fried pork)
- Mamajuana (rum-and-herb drink)
