Arroz Blanco con Plátano

This dish is from Oaxaca. Specifically from the home tables of the Valles Centrales, where it sits beside mole negro, beside tasajo asado, beside a bowl of frijoles de la olla. It is the side dish that confuses every visitor and that no Oaxacan family questions.

The rice itself is plain. Long-grain, rinsed, toasted in lard with a chunk of onion and two cloves of garlic, then steamed in hot water until each grain stands separate. Grano por grano. That is the Oaxacan standard for white rice and it is not negotiable. The toasting in lard is the step people skip and the step that matters. La manteca es el sabor. Boiled rice is not arroz blanco. Toasted, steamed rice is.

The plátano on top is what makes outsiders raise an eyebrow. Sweet, ripe banana sliced over savory rice. Cold fruit on warm grain. It sounds wrong written down. It is right at the table. The sweetness cuts the richness of mole, the cool slices reset your palate between bites of tasajo, and the contrast of textures, soft fruit against firm grain, is the whole point. In Oaxaca, the plátano dominico, those small finger-sized bananas, is the traditional choice because the flavor is more concentrated. A regular yellow banana works when the dominico is not in your market.

My mother did not cook this. She was from Jalisco and Jalisciense rice is its own thing, redder, with tomato. The first time I ate arroz blanco con plátano was at a comedor in Tlacolula and I asked the senora why. She looked at me like I was the strange one. "Asi se come," she said. This is how it is eaten. Cada estado, su propia cocina.