Arroz a la cubana () (Cuban-style rice) or ''arroz cubano'' is a rice dish popular in several Hispanic countries. Its defining ingredients are
rice and a
fried egg. A plantain or banana, and
tomato sauce, are so frequently used as often to be considered defining ingredients.
[Ismael Sarmiento Ramírez, (2003), Alimentación y relaciones sociales en la Cuba colonial, Anales del Museo de América, ISSN 1133-8741, Nº. 11, pp 197-226 ][ In Catalonia, sausages frequently stand in for the plantains. Its origin is not definitively known; various informal sources state without references that it originated in Peru, the Philippines, etc. Some authors consider that it may have originated from rice dishes with fried eggs from Cuba when it was a Spanish colony.
There are many minor variations, even within the same regions.
In Spain, a typical dish of ''arroz a la cubana'' consists of a serving of white rice with tomato sauce and a fried egg. Sometimes a plantain][Recipe from Perú, using plantain]
/ref> or banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
is fried with the other ingredients.[Arroz a la Cubana (Cuban Rice), The Philippine Way.]
This variant uses banana.
''Arroz a la cubana'' has been eaten in the Philippines since Spanish colonial times.[Antonio Quilis,Celia Casado Fresnillo, (2008), La lengua española en Filipinas: Historia. Situación actual, CSIC, Madrid. ] The modern version always includes ground beef cooked with tomatoes or tomato sauce, and this beef preparation by itself corresponds to '' picadillo'' in Latin America. In other words, ''arroz a la cubana'' in the Philippines is a combination of ''picadillo'' and ''arroz a la cubana'' as understood in other countries. It typically consists of ground beef sauteed with onions, garlic, tomato sauce, diced potatoes, raisins, and diced carrots, plus white rice, a fried egg and a ripe native banana, sliced length-wise and fried.[
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.][
]
References
{{Philippine cuisine
Rice dishes
Cuban cuisine
Peruvian cuisine
Spanish words and phrases
Philippine cuisine
Egg dishes
Plantain dishes
Tomato dishes
Spanish rice dishes
Food combinations