Huevos a la cubana (Cuban rice with fried eggs and plantains)
White rice under a quick garlicky tomato sauce, topped with fried eggs and sweet caramelized plantains, the humble Cuban plate that hits every craving at once.
- 40 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $2.08 a serving
- 880 calories
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 cup long-grain white rice
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz
- 2 plantains, ripe, yellow with black spots
- 4 large eggs
From your pantry
- 1½ cups water
- ¾ tsp salt, divided
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp dried oregano
- 1½ tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 880 calories, 23 g protein, 137 g carbs and 28 g fat, and costs about $2.08 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No tomato sauce? Crushed tomatoes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice and put it in a with the water and ½ teaspoon salt. over high heat.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low and cook 15 minutes. Turn off the burner and leave the lid on until you serve.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Heat the olive oil in a small over medium heat, add the garlic for 30 seconds, then stir in the tomato sauce, cumin, oregano and of salt. on low for 5 minutes.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 5 min
Cut the ends off the plantains, slit the skin and it off. them on a diagonal about ½ inch thick.
Lengthwise. Lengthwise means cutting along the long side, from stem to tip, which gives long pieces. Crosswise is the other way, straight across the middle, which gives short, round ones.
How you’ll know: Lengthwise halves of a zucchini look like two little canoes; crosswise pieces look like coins.
Peel. Peeling means removing the skin with a vegetable peeler or a small knife. It takes off tough or bitter skins, though potato and carrot skins are fine to leave on unless the recipe insists.
How you’ll know: The color underneath is even all over, with no patches of skin left behind.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Dolly’s tip: Ripe plantains should be mostly black and give a little when pressed. That’s when they fry up sweet.Heat the vegetable oil in a large nonstick over medium heat.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heat
Fry the plantains until deep and , 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Caramelize. Caramelizing means cooking slowly until the natural sugars turn deep golden brown. It turns sharp onions soft, jammy and sweet, and it often takes 30 minutes or more.
How you’ll know: They’re soft, sticky and amber brown, and they taste sweet rather than sharp.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Watch them closely. The sugar in ripe plantains goes from caramel to burnt quickly.Move them to a paper towel.
Crack the eggs into the same , sprinkle with the rest of the salt, cover and cook until the whites are set and the yolks begin to , 3 to 4 minutes.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Mound the rice on plates, spoon the tomato sauce over it, top with the eggs and set the plantains alongside.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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