Arroz a la cubana (Cuban-Style Rice)

📝 Ingredients

• 150 g long-grain rice
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400 g)
• 1 brown onion + 3 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf + 1 tsp caster sugar
• 2 tbsp olive oil (1 for the sauce, 1 for the plantain and eggs)
• 1 very ripe plantain with blackened skin (about 250 g with the skin on)
• 4 eggs (2 per person)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• 2 saucepans
• Non-stick frying pan
• Colander
• Bowl (for shaping the rice)
• Spatula

📖 Steps

1. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan over a medium-low heat and sweat the onion for 6 to 7 min, stirring, until translucent and soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and stir for 1 min.
2. Add the chopped tomatoes, sugar, bay leaf, a pinch of salt and some pepper. Simmer uncovered over a low heat for 20 min, stirring from time to time: the sauce should thicken and no longer be watery. Remove the bay leaf, taste and adjust the salt.
3. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Rinse the rice, add it to the water and cook at a gentle boil for the time given on the packet (about 11 min), until tender but still firm. Drain and keep covered.
4. While the sauce finishes simmering, peel the plantain: cut off both ends, score the skin all along its length and pull it off with your fingers. Cut on the diagonal into 1 cm slices. A really black plantain is sweet and soft; while still yellow, it stays starchy.
5. Heat the second spoonful of oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the plantain slices for 3 min on each side, until nicely caramelised and tender all the way through. Set aside on a plate, leaving the remaining oil in the pan.
6. In the same pan over a medium-low heat, crack in the eggs one at a time (into a bowl first, to avoid bits of shell). Cook for 3 to 4 min, until the whites are completely set and the yolks still runny. Season only the whites with salt and pepper.
7. Pack the rice into a lightly dampened bowl, then turn it out onto the centre of each plate to form a dome. Spoon tomato sauce around it, then add two fried eggs and the plantain slices. Serve straight away: the runny yolk gets mixed into the rice and sauce.