Culinary Travel: La Bandera Dominicana

Dominicans call their country’s staple dish La Bandera Dominicana which literary translates to the Dominican Flag. This is served almost daily in every Dominican household. There are many traditional dishes but this is the national dish that is prepared the most.

Rice
The rice used is normally a long grain. It is cooked until tender on the inside but dry, loose and not sticky. The ratio that never fails is 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cup of water. To cook it, all you add to the water is salt and oil.  

Beans
The beans most commonly used are red beans, but you can see variations using black and white beans as well, or pigeon peas. They are stewed in water, and other elements are included to add flavor and make the consistency thicker. Some of the other items added can be onions, cubanela peppers, celery, tomatoes, plantains and squash. The seasonings of choice of Dominicans are salt, garlic and oregano.

Meat
The most popular meat is chicken, which is probably because it is the most inexpensive option. They also use other meats like beef, pork and goat, but the meat must be stewed. The base of the stewed meat is tomatoes and onions. The juices released by the fresh tomatoes will create a delicious sauce which the meat will be stewed in. A trick used by Dominicans to give the stew meat a rich brown color is to burn some sugar in the bottom of the pan first until it is caramelized and golden then the meat is added to sear and take the brown color of the caramelized sugar.  Below is the Pollo Guisado (Stewed Chicken) recipe.

Pollo Guisado (Stewed Chicken) – yields 6

Ingredients

1 small whole chicken about 2 1/2 pounds cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon of oil
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 tablespoon of water
2 large steak tomatoes crushed
1 large vidalia onion sliced
1 handful chopped cilantro

Directions

Rinse chicken in warm water. Add lime juice and rub chicken so all pieces are covered with the lime juice. Season with salt, oregano and garlic. Let the chicken marinate for 30 minutes. In a large pot heat oil over medium high heat add sugar and wait until sugar is caramelized.

Add chicken and stir so it gets covered all over with the golden brown color of the caramelized sugar.

Add the water and onions, stir and let the onions cook with the chicken on medium heat for about 15 minutes. Add tomatoes and cilantro, stir and cover. Keep it covered over medium heat for 15 more minutes. Uncover to check the sauce, stir and keep cooking until tomatoes have released all its juices and formed a sauce. Taste the sauce and add salt to taste. 

Enjoy!

Let Rawhide Travel and Tours help you get there and if you want to stay in comfort rather than camping out we can help. Call us at (602) 843-5100 or visit our website: rawhidetravel.com.

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