- RUS
Recipe: Cartagenian style beef with Temptation plantain and coconut rice
Updated: May 11, 2019
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).


Posta negra Cartagenera, con platano en tentación y arroz de coco
“Cartagenian style beef with Temptation plantain and coconut rice”.

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.

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!!!
