Pabellón Criollo is a Venezuelan dish that contains white rice, pulled beef (Carne Mechada) and seasoned black beans. Many people recognise this as the national dish of Venezuela. From our own personal point of view, it is a simple dish. Yet it bursts with so much flavour, all the way down to the white rice. The secret for making a simple dish such as white rice flavourful is to pre fry the dry grains of rice with salt, oil, onions, garlic and strips of yellow and red pepper. Boil the mixture till its cooked, then pick out all the bell peppers and onions.
There are many variations of Pabellón Criollo. With the addition of fried plantains (tajadas), they are colloquially known as 'pabellón con barandas'. Barandas means guard rail in Spanish. As it is usually joked that the fried plantains act as guards to prevent the food from falling off the plate (which is obviously not true as they will probably slide off along with everything else).
In Singapore, it is not easy to get plantains. Therefore we suggest using slightly unripe bananas (make sure they are quite firm to the touch) and frying (or grilling) them with a generous amount of vegetable oil.
Pabellón Criollo with the addition of a fried egg on top is known as 'pabellón a caballo'. A caballo means horseback riding in Spanish. And this term is used as the egg appears to ride on the dish as if riding on horseback.
A version containing both fried plantains and a fried egg is also common. The dish is then known as 'Pabellón con barandas y a caballo'.
As most Venezuelans are Roman Catholics, many do not consume meat during the weeks of Lent. This means about 6 weeks prior to Easter. Therefore, Carne Mechada is usually replaced with other substitutes such as freshwater fish, shredded capybara (a huge rodent related to guinea pigs) or shredded caiman (a relative of alligators).
