Costa Rican chifrijo, a sort of small taco bowl, are a famous boca (appetizer) popular in the country. It’s a simple mixture of things you might see on a plate of food in the region like rice, beans, avocado, and pork, but the way it’s presented makes it a novel, delicious snack. Typically It’s made with pork, but it’s also a great lamb belly recipe, and other fatty cuts can be used too.
Chef Bergo loves to travel and eat, and on a trip to Costa Rica to visit family, chifrijo was one of the foods on his list he’d been meaning to try. The simple appetizer became his favorite dish of the whole trip, and one that he added to his canon of favorite Latin American recipes to recreate back home in the United States.
Similar to a nacho or salsa bowl, but also it’s own, unique thing, chifrijo is a blend of techniques. The bowl starts off with a mix of rice and beans, topped with fresh tomatoes or pico de gallo, and crisp fried chicharrones, avocado, and corn chips for scooping, but, curiously, the bowls are always served very juicy, by adding some of the cooking liquid from beans or meat along with everything else. The broth, meat, rice and beans, combined with chips may look like a small snack, but it it’s like a meal!
Traditionally, culantro is used widely in Costa Rica, so that’s what chef uses here, but using some cilantro is just fine too. If you have an Asian market in your area, look for culantro there, or, just skip it. Another thing to know about the ingredients that might surprise you is that in Costa Rica, food is not served spicy. If you like a little heat, adding some chopped or pickled jalapenos to your taco bowl is great, just don’t tell your Costa Rican friends we said so!
This recipe is by chef Alan Bergo. A chef from Minnesota, Alan is a culinary industry veteran, former executive chef of acclaimed Lucia’s Restaurant, and the Salt Cellar. Founder of the website Forager Chef, he’s best known as a respected authority on Midwestern foraging. Learn more about Alan and his hunt for mushrooms, wild and obscure foods at Forager Chef.
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