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Bandeja paisa
Bandeja paisa, (spanish for "Paisa Platter") also known as bandeja de arriero, bandeja montanera, or bandeja antioquena, is a typical fusion cuisine Colombian dish. It is very popular, especially in the Paisa Region departments (Antioquia, the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis, and part of Valle del Cauca.
The main characteristic of this dish is the oversized amount of food and the wide variety of ingredients, which dont allow this dish to be served in a single regular plate, so it must be served in a Platter or a Tray
Origin
The origin of the Bandeja Paisa was influenced by several different cultures that inhabited Colombia throughout the centuries, including the Indigenous peoples of Colombia, as well as colonial Spaniards and Africans. In the 19th century, there was presence of French and British colonialists who brought their cuisine with them.
The current form and presentation of the Paisa Platter is relatively recent. There are no references in the food writing about this dish before 1950. It is probably an interpretation of the local restaurants of simpler peasant dishes. One of its most prominent features is the juxtaposition of native american and European ingredients, which is also observed in other mestizo dishes of Latin American cuisine, such as venezuelan Pabellon criollo or Costa Rican Gallo Pinto.
Ingredients
Paisa Platter must be served in large oval-shaped trays. There are 13 main ingredients that must be present for the dish to be considered a canonical Bandeja Paisa:
Red beans cooked with pork
White rice
Ground meat
Pork rind
Fried eggs
Plantain Patacones
Chorizo with Lemon
Arepa
Hogao sauce
Black pudding
Avocado
Side dish:
Mazamorra (Maize-derived beverage similar to Atole) with Milk
Grinded Panela
There are several variants of the dish all over the country with deletion or addition of ingredients, which cannot be recognized as Bandeja Paisa in stricto sensu. Some Antioquian restaurants offer an "extended" Bandeja Paisa, also known as "Seven Meats Platter" which contains, besides the afforementioned ingredients: grilled steak, grilled pork and Liver. A dieting friendly version of the dish is very popular in Bogota, which replaces pork with grilled chicken breast, black pudding with salad and chorizo with a weenie.
The Bandeja Paisa is nutritious, and particularly rich in protein from the beans and meat, but also contains a large amount of carbohydrates.
Colombian national dish
In 2005 the Colombian government planned to make bandeja paisa the national dish, with name changed to "bandeja montanera" (mountain tray) to avoid the exclusion of people outside the Paisa Region. A number of people opposed this designation, arguing that only a small percentage of the Colombian population consumes it in regular basis, that it is originated in a single region of Colombia (Antioquia) and so on. However, the suggested alternative, sancocho, is not a dish distinctively Colombian, as it is known and enjoyed in many other countries like Panama, Venezuela, Canary Islands, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Due to the widespread ubiquity of sancocho, often Colombian ajiaco is instead indicated as the most indicative Colombian dish.
Nonetheless, the commercial Colombian tourism industry has pushed ahead without official government sanction by blazening ads, menus, and brochure information with imagery of the bandeja paisa as the single most typical Colombian dish.. On his release from an 8 year kidnap ordeal Oscar Tulio Lizcano said the meal he wanted to eat was the Bandeja paisa.
See also
Colombian cuisine
Paisa Region
Full course dinner
This is why you're fat
External links and Recipes
Bandeja Paisa recipe in "Asterisco"
Artes y saberes de la bandeja paisa
Recipe for Bandeja Paisa
Bandeja Paisa pictures.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Bandeja paisa
