#44 Costa Rica
- Jen
- Jan 30, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 4, 2022
Where? Central America. North of Panama, south of Nicaragua; Caribbean Sea to the east, Pacific Ocean to the west.
Costa Rica was one of Christopher Columbus’ ‘discoveries’ and is thus Spanish-speaking today. It is also one of the most stable and democratic countries in the region and, fun fact: one of only a handful of countries in the world with no standing army. Education and healthcare are good, as is the country’s commitment to the environment, which includes a well-established ecotourism industry. Approximately 80% of Costa Rica’s electricity is generated from hydroelectric plants – another fun fact.
Costa Rica means ‘Rich Coast’, which is a well-deserved title as it is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, and much of the land (27%!) is protected by national parks and other preserves. 4% of the world’s species of flora and fauna can be found in Costa Rica, with many being endemic to the country.
The climate is mainly tropical, but with some areas of temperate and alpine climate in the mountains in the centre of the country. The Pacific side experiences wet and dry seasons and there is plenty of rain all year round on the Caribbean side.
Corn (or maize) was an important starch for the indigenous people of Costa Rica, as it was throughout the pre-Columbian Americas, and corn is still widely eaten there today. Possibly the most famous corn-based dish of the region are tamales. Tamales are made from steaming corn dough mixed with other fillings inside a corn leaf. Once a sacred Aztec dish and considered to be the food of the Gods, tamales today are a celebration dish. In Costa Rica, masses of tamales with pork are made and eaten throughout December to celebrate Christmas.
Many Costa Rican cooking traditions are a meld of indigenous and Spanish/European ideas. A beef stew that’s eaten in almost all households, olla de carne (‘pot of meat’), being a prime example. The slow cooking technique is typically European, and the inclusion of plantain, corn and sweet potato comes from what the land has to offer.
Rice and black beans are the staple, eaten daily, sometimes multiple times daily. Pork and beef are the most consumed meats, but chicken and fish are also popular. There are plenty of vegetables and tropical fruits readily available due to the country’s climate – bananas, pineapple, etc. as well as an array of weird and wonderful fruits such as: pitahayas, which are like dragon fruits; granadillas, like a sweet passion fruit; and guabas, which reportedly taste like ice cream.
Breakfast and lunch
Gallo pinto is undisputedly the national dish. Gallo pinto is fried rice with black beans and the name translates from Spanish as ‘spotted rooster’, due to the speckled appearance the beans give to the rice. It’s a standard breakfast dish and usually served alongside eggs, cheese and fruits such as avocado or plantain. Salsa Lizano is a tangy sauce, comparable to Worcestershire sauce, used in cooking as well as being a table condiment and is ubiquitous throughout Costa Rica. It’s a key ingredient in gallo pinto.
To make gallo pinto, I fried onion, garlic, red pepper and coriander stalks together before adding a little cumin and Lea & Perrins (in lieu of Salsa Lizano). I then threw in some kidney beans (personal preference over black beans) and cooked and cooled white rice. Before serving, I stirred through the chopped coriander leaves that had been parted from their stalks and dished this up with slices of tomato and avocado and a fried egg.
The flavours are simple, but this was a thoroughly enjoyable stomach-lining brunch dish for my friend Loz and myself before we went out matchday pinting, Cardiff-style*. I would definitely make this again.
*In October! Bit of a lag between eating and posting this time.
Following on from a typical breakfast, we have a typical lunch: casado. Here we can eat rice and beans for the second time in the day, this time alongside meat, fried plantains and possibly also with any number of other components, which could be: avocado, corn, peppers, cheese, salad, etc…basically, a mixed platter of anything you want! The casado is usually a cheap option for a filling meal in small, open-air restaurants, known as sodas.
Street food
Costa Rica, like much of Latin America, has its own version of empanadas. Here, they are fried and can be a corn dough filled with meat and potato, or a plantain-based dough filled with beans and cheese.
Chifrijo is a relatively modern invention of the street food/bar snack scene of Costa Rica, and it might be worth booking flights to Juan Santamaría International for this reason alone! This is the ultimate chips and dip: a warm bean stew, cooked rice, a raw salsa called pico de gallo and tortilla chips, all pimped up with crispy pork crackling, known as chicharrones. Why do we not put pork scratchings on all of nachos?!
Dessert
Popular desserts include arroz con leche (rice pudding), empanadas filled with pineapple jam (definitely need to try these one day!), and tres leches, a sponge cake soaked in a mixture of sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and milk milk, hence the name ‘three milks’.
The only fat in a tres leches sponge is from egg yolks and it’s made feather-light by incorporating beaten egg whites in separately to the yolks. This might be what ‘angel food cake’ is but I’m not sure…all the different types of sponge cake confuse me. I clearly don’t pay enough attention during GBBO!
Once the sponge is cooked and cooled, it needs to be pricked it all over, exactly as you would for a lemon drizzle cake, and the tres leches (three milks) get poured over. The topping is simply whipped cream with a sprinkling of cinnamon.
Tres leches is très bien! All the air bubbles in the sponge soaked up the three milks beautifully overnight. I was concerned that the result of tipping that much liquid over the cake would be a soggy mess, but it was delightfully moist. As cakes go it’s not overly sweet and the lightness of the sponge makes it feel like an acceptable level of decadence…even if you have it for breakfast…
Costa Rica (finally!) done. Next…VIETNAM!
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