Name: Colombian Bandeja Paisa
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Latin American
Ingredients: For red beans: 2 cups dried red kidney beans (soaked overnight), 1/2 lb smoked pork hock or bacon, 1 tomato, 1 scallion, 1 tsp cumin, salt; For hogao (ground beef): 1 lb ground beef, 2 tomatoes diced, 1 scallion diced, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp cumin, salt; 2 cups white rice, cooked; 4 pieces chicharrón (fried pork belly or skin, pre-made or store-bought); 2 ripe plantains, sliced and pan-fried in oil until golden; 4 eggs, fried sunny-side up; 2 ripe avocados, halved; For arepas: 2 cups masarepa (pre-cooked white corn flour), 2 cups warm water, 1 tsp salt, butter

The magnificent working meal of Colombia's Antioquia region — a massive platter of red beans, rice, chicharrón, ground beef, fried egg, plantain, avocado, and arepa.

The Cultural Story

Bandeja paisa means "paisa platter" — paisa being the people of Colombia's coffee-growing Antioquia region, among the most hardworking and proudly regional people in South America. This platter was designed for muleros, the men who led mule trains through the Andes carrying coffee down to market. A day's hard labor required an extraordinary meal, and bandeja paisa delivers: smoky red beans slow-cooked with pork hock, fluffy white rice, crispy chicharrón (pork skin), seasoned ground beef (hogao), a fried egg, sweet fried plantain, ripe avocado, and a white corn arepa the size of your palm. It arrived on a tray (bandeja) barely contained. Today, it is Colombia's unofficial national dish — the one thing every Colombian agrees on, regardless of region or politics. Restaurants in Bogotá and Medellín serve it all day long. In Antioquia, it is how you eat at noon on Sunday.

Ingredients

For red beans: 2 cups dried red kidney beans (soaked overnight), 1/2 lb smoked pork hock or bacon, 1 tomato, 1 scallion, 1 tsp cumin, salt
For hogao (ground beef): 1 lb ground beef, 2 tomatoes diced, 1 scallion diced, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp cumin, salt
2 cups white rice, cooked
4 pieces chicharrón (fried pork belly or skin, pre-made or store-bought)
2 ripe plantains, sliced and pan-fried in oil until golden
4 eggs, fried sunny-side up
2 ripe avocados, halved
For arepas: 2 cups masarepa (pre-cooked white corn flour), 2 cups warm water, 1 tsp salt, butter

Instructions

1Cook the beans: drain soaked beans and cover with fresh water. Add pork hock, whole tomato, whole scallion, and cumin. Simmer for 1–1.5 hours until beans are completely tender. Remove pork, shred meat back into beans. Season generously with salt. The broth should be thick and smoky.
2Make arepas: mix masarepa with warm salted water until a soft, non-sticky dough forms. Shape into thick discs (1/2 inch). Cook on a dry griddle over medium heat for 4–5 minutes per side until golden. Finish with a pat of butter.
3Make hogao: brown ground beef in oil until caramelized. Add tomatoes, scallion, and garlic. Cook down for 15 minutes until sauce is thick and fragrant. Season with cumin and salt.
4Fry plantain slices in a thin layer of oil until golden on both sides, about 2–3 minutes per side. The riper the plantain, the sweeter and better.
5Fry eggs sunny-side up in a separate pan. The yolk should run when broken.
6Compose each plate: a mound of rice on one side. Beans ladled next to it. Ground beef hogao. Chicharrón standing upright. Plantain slices. Egg on top. Avocado half. Arepa on the side. The plate should be unambiguously full. This is the point.

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