Recipe: Cartagenian style beef with Temptation plantain and coconut rice

POSTED ON NOVEMBER 23, 2018

WAITER, THERE’S A COLA IN MY FOOD

Unusual! Unique! First time ever! I taste a dish cooked in a cola. It has a strangely uplifting and cheering effect…much like the internationally renowned song “waka waka” (sung by the Colombian Shakira). This dish is her favorite…as is mine.  It has a memorable deliciousness that ricochets on my taste buds, pampers my senses and stays in my memory forever. And the interesting part is that it is not a funky, innovation or modern fusion dish, it’s a traditional  South American dish from Colombia’s beautiful, ancient walled city of Cartagena. And I taste it in the stunningly beautiful Legend of Santa Clara. It dates back to 1621 when it was a convent. Even now, every evening, there is the candle lighting ceremony done by the monks.  Here history, lives and breathes and then dapper Richard Launay who helms this landmark ensures that  along with high-tech all traditions are preserved. Nobel prize winning author Garcia Marquez has written an award winning book on the Legend of St Clara. Not only does the brilliant chef  Dominique Oudin cook up this dish but also shares the recipe with me. And it’s only on checking around and doing my research that I find out that many a president, royalty, Bill Gates and even the internationally renowned singer Shakira (shot into fame with Waka Waka) is not only a Colombian but also a regular at Legend of Santa Clara and this dish along with Arripas huevos (egg in a corn batter)  is a favourite of hers.

It has a long name and it s a dish composed of beef (cooked in a cola) plaintain and coconut rice. It has a masterful balance of flavours (savory and a kiss of sweet).

Tasting Posts Negra with chef Dominique Oudin and Richard Launay in The Legend of Santa Clara.

Internationally renowned Colombian Singer Shakira’s favourite dish.

Posta negra Cartagenera, con platano en tentación y arroz de coco 

“Cartagenian style beef with Temptation plantain and coconut rice”.

Traditional Colombian Post Negra dish cooked with a cola.

Serves six

Posta negra 

       1

1.5 kg     beef  

350 g      white onion

350 g      carrot

1 clove    garlic

5 branches of  thyme 

40    cloves

20    whole pepper

1 stick     cinnamon

 580g       brown sugar 

 1.5 Litrescoke

 3 Lts       water

 14g  salt

 20 ml      vegetable oil

 Method

Take the beef meat, and clean it. Put half of the salt. Clean the vegetables and cut them in thick cubes. 

In a frying pan, heat up the oil and seared the meat on all sides. Clean the pan with coke and add all the ingredients and the water. 

Cook slowly for about 3 hours according the size of the meat.

Remove the beef. Sift the sauce and verify the flavors.

PLATANO EN TENTACIÓN 

“ Temptation plantain”

       6     ripped plantain

       450ml     Sweet cola (our icecream soda)

       150ml     water 

       100gr      sugar

       1 stick     whole cinammon

       10 Ud     cloves

Method  

Remove the skin from the plantain and cut it in 4 pieces.

In a bowl add all the ingredients, and put the plantain in the mix.

In a sauce pan cook the plantains with the mix and let it cook in low until you get a caramel liquid.

Arroz de coco 

Coconut rice

I have the coconut rice recipe with me, should you need it please email rashmiudaysingh18@gmail.com

To serve:

Cut the beef in thin slices and wash with hot  sauce. 

Serve with coconut rice and ”temptation plantain”.

LEGENDARY DINNER

As much as I trip out on the traditional beef stew (recipe above) I could with equal joy write poems to avocado weds mango to black garlic weds beef and treetomato weds langoustine.All in Colombia finest legend SantaClara s 1621. And that too by brilliant 27 year young chef Andres Segura .

Brilliant marriage of Avocado with the fresh tartness of green mango in a crazily addictive Cold avocado and ginger soup with Sousvide Lobster tail. The degustation dinner of modern Colombian cuisine dazzles.

Chef Andrea Segura and the avocado mango masterpiece.

FRUITS OF LEARNING

My learning continues the next morning over the legendary breakfast… where chef Oudin escorts me through the authentic Colombian street food stalls… I even watch each dish being made. From the most popular 

“patacon” plantain deep fried,

“Arripa de huevo” egg in a corn batter to the superb, freshly brewed Colombian coffee.

And through it all the colorful

“palanquera” in her traditional dress sparkles the breakfast room. The palanqueras are the traditional fruit sellers. So I bite into the juiciest freshest fruit and keep learning too. Having my fruit and eating it too!!!

Chef Oudin and the Palanquera.