Chef Lupita
Arroz Jarocho con Plátanos Fritos
Veracruz's Gulf-side white rice, toasted with garlic and onion, cooked until each grain stands apart, then crowned with ripe plátano macho fried in lard.
Culinary Explorer
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Jarocho Rice and Black Beans (Moros y Cristianos)
Created by
Veracruz's black beans and rice, carried through the port from the Caribbean and made jarocho with epazote, bay leaf, garlic, and the black bean that rules the Gulf kitchen.
Side Dishes
Mexican
Weeknight
Comfort Food
One Pot
20 min
Active Time
2 hr cook•2 hr 20 min total
Yield6 servings
Veracruz, especially the port and the Sotavento, is where this dish belongs in Mexico. Moros y Cristianos came through the Gulf with the Afro-Caribbean line, then Veracruz made it its own with frijol negro, epazote, garlic, bay leaf, and sometimes a strip of tocino cooked down until the fat perfumes the rice.
Do not bring me pinto beans for this. In Veracruz, the black bean rules. The bean pot sits at the center of the kitchen the way the comal does in other states, and the rice is not cooked separately like a polite guest. It marries the bean broth in the same pot. That dark broth is the flavor. Throw it away and you have missed the point.
I learned a version of this near Tlacotalpan from a woman who served it beside platanos fritos on banana leaf, with a clay olla sweating in the humid kitchen and a wooden spoon stained almost purple from years of black beans. She told me, 'El arroz tiene que tomar color.' The rice has to take the color. She was right. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Moros y Cristianos is associated with Cuba and the wider Spanish Caribbean, where black beans and white rice became a daily dish shaped by African, Spanish, and Indigenous foodways. Veracruz absorbed the preparation through the port trade from the colonial period onward, especially in the Afro-Mestizo corridor of the Sotavento, where plantain, yuca, malanga, black beans, and rice share the same table. The dish's name refers to the medieval Spanish language of Moors and Christians, but in Veracruz the cooking tells a Gulf story, not a Castilian one.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried black beans
Quantity
1 cup
picked over and rinsed
water
Quantity
7 cups
divided
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium
left in one piece for the bean pot
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
whole for the bean pot
fresh epazote
Quantity
1 large sprig
kosher salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, divided, plus more to taste
long-grain white rice
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
manteca de cerdo (pork lard)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
tocino or thick-cut unsmoked bacon
Quantity
2 ounces
diced
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium
finely chopped for the sofrito
garlic clove
Quantity
1
finely chopped
fresh chile jalapeño or chile cuaresmeño
Quantity
1
slit lengthwise
bay leaf
Quantity
1
dried Mexican oregano
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
lightly crushed
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried black beanspicked over and rinsed | 1 cup |
| waterdivided | 7 cups |
| white onionleft in one piece for the bean pot | 1/2 medium |
| garlic cloveswhole for the bean pot | 2 |
| fresh epazote | 1 large sprig |
| kosher salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, divided, plus more to taste |
| long-grain white rice | 1 1/2 cups |
| manteca de cerdo (pork lard) | 2 tablespoons |
| tocino or thick-cut unsmoked bacondiced | 2 ounces |
| white onionfinely chopped for the sofrito | 1/2 medium |
| garlic clovefinely chopped | 1 |
| fresh chile jalapeño or chile cuaresmeñoslit lengthwise | 1 |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| dried Mexican oreganolightly crushed | 1/2 teaspoon |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy bean pot or clay olla
- •Wide clay cazuela from Veracruz or heavy 4-quart Dutch oven
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Cook the beans
Put the black beans in a heavy pot with 6 cups water, the onion piece, 2 whole garlic cloves, and the epazote. Bring to a boil, then lower to a steady simmer. Cook until the beans are tender but not falling apart, about 1 1/2 hours, adding hot water if the beans start to show above the liquid. Add 1 teaspoon salt during the last 20 minutes. Salt too early can slow stubborn beans. Salt too late and the bean broth tastes thin.
- 2
Save the broth
Remove the onion, garlic, and spent epazote. Drain the beans over a bowl and save every drop of the dark cooking liquid. You need 2 3/4 cups bean broth for the rice. If you are short, add water. If you throw away the broth, you throw away the Veracruz part of the dish.
- 3
Rinse the rice
Rinse the rice under cool water until the water runs mostly clear, then drain it well. Let it sit in the strainer for 10 minutes. Wet rice thrown straight into hot fat splutters and cooks unevenly. Dry it a little. The grain will behave better.
- 4
Render the tocino
Set a wide clay cazuela or heavy pot over medium heat. Add the manteca de cerdo and the diced tocino. Cook until the tocino gives up its fat and the edges turn golden, 4 to 5 minutes. La manteca es el sabor. This is not the place for a timid spoon of vegetable oil.
- 5
Fry the aromatics
Add the finely chopped onion and cook until translucent and sweet-smelling, about 4 minutes. Stir in the chopped garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Do not brown the garlic. Add the drained rice and stir until every grain is shiny with fat and the rice sounds dry against the pot, 3 to 4 minutes. That frying keeps the grains separate instead of turning the pot into paste.
The chile jalapeño is there for perfume and a little green bite, not to turn the dish into a test. Not all Mexican food is hot. This one is savory, dark, and coastal. - 6
Add beans and broth
Stir in the cooked black beans, 2 3/4 cups reserved bean broth, the slit jalapeño, bay leaf, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Bring to a lively simmer and taste the liquid. It should taste slightly saltier than you want the finished rice, because the grains will absorb it.
- 7
Cook covered
Cover the pot, lower the heat to the lowest setting, and cook for 18 minutes without lifting the lid. No me vengas con atajos. Every time you open the pot, you let out the heat the rice needs. At 18 minutes, turn off the heat and let the pot rest, still covered, for 10 minutes.
- 8
Fluff and serve
Remove the bay leaf and jalapeño. Fluff the rice gently with a fork from the edges toward the center. The grains should be stained gray-purple from the black bean broth, tender but separate, with whole beans scattered through the pot. Serve from the cazuela with platanos fritos, yuca frita, or grilled fish. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Chef Tips
- •Use dried black beans if you can. Canned black beans are a compromise, not an upgrade, because you need real bean broth to stain and season the rice properly.
- •The jalapeño belongs here because Veracruz gave its name to Xalapa. Use a fresh chile jalapeño or chile cuaresmeño, slit but not chopped, if you want aroma without too much heat.
- •If you cannot find tocino, use thick-cut unsmoked bacon. Smoked American bacon will push the pot in a different direction, so use less and accept the compromise.
- •This dish belongs beside Veracruz food: platanos fritos, yuca with mojo, pescado a la veracruzana, or eggs in the morning. Do not bury it under cheddar, sour cream, or avocado garnish. That is another kitchen.
Advance Preparation
- •The black beans can be cooked up to 3 days ahead. Refrigerate the beans in their broth so the liquid stays dark and flavorful.
- •Moros y Cristianos reheats well with a spoonful of water in a covered skillet over low heat. Stir gently so the grains do not break.
- •Do not freeze the finished rice. The beans survive, the rice does not.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 240g)
Calories
370 calories
Total Fat
9 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
10 mg
Sodium
820 mg
Total Carbohydrates
60 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
12 g
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