Hispanic Heritage · Costa Rica

Limón

Puerto Limón · Moín · Cahuita · Puerto Viejo de Talamanca · Manzanillo · Bribri

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Rice and beans con pollo en coco

Rice and beans in Limón, a serving variation. Presentation may differ from this recipe. AndSalx95 · CC0. Resized source thumbnail; display may crop to fit.

Descubre

Limón brings Costa Rica’s Caribbean cooking into focus. Rice and beans cooked with coconut milk, thyme, and chile accompany chicken in coconut sauce, offering a fragrant introduction to the region’s Afro-Caribbean food traditions.

La Gente

Coconut milk links the two parts of the meal. A whole chile can perfume the pot without dispersing as much heat as a chopped one; handle it gently. Let the rice rest before serving so the grains settle and separate.

Sabor

Limón cooks in coconut, thyme, and the chile panameño. Allspice and ginger from the Jamaican cupboard. Garlic and onion under everything. The heat is aromatic more than fierce, the chile whole in the pot rather than chopped into it, and the sweetness is the coconut and the pan bon.

Spice DNA · Sweet medium · Herb medium · Heat medium · Smoke low · Acid low

Seasonings to explore

Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. In the rice and the chicken. Adds a savory garlic base.
Thyme leaves. Limón's herb. In both pots.
Allspice, ground. Pimienta de Jamaica, in the chicken. The name is the history.
Ginger, ground. In the chicken, or fresh grated.
Black Pepper, ground. In both.
Onion Powder. With the fresh onion.
Habanero Hot Sauce. For the chile panameño's heat on the plate when there is no fresh one. Badia makes it.

From your market: small red beans, long-grain rice, two cans of full-fat coconut milk or two fresh coconuts, a whole Scotch bonnet or habanero, chicken thighs, an onion, a sweet pepper, fresh thyme if you can, cabbage, and a ripe plantain. Badia does not sell the coconut. Limón grates its own. The can is forgiven.

Cocina

Rice and beans con pollo en coco

The Sunday plate of Limón. Rice and red beans cooked together in coconut milk with a whole chile in the pot, and chicken stewed in more coconut beside it.

Serves 6

Rice and beans

2 cups cooked small red beans, with ½ cup of their liquid
1 can (13.5 oz) full-fat coconut milk
1½ cups water
2 cups long-grain rice
1 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil
½ onion, minced
½ tsp Badia Onion Powder
1 tsp Badia Thyme leaves
½ tsp Badia Black Pepper, ground
1 whole Scotch bonnet or habanero, unbroken
Salt

Pollo en coco

2 lb chicken thighs
2 tbsp oil
1 onion, sliced
1 sweet pepper, sliced
2 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil
1 tsp Badia Thyme leaves
½ tsp Badia Allspice, ground
½ tsp Badia Ginger, ground
½ tsp Badia Black Pepper, ground
1 can (13.5 oz) full-fat coconut milk
Salt
Badia Habanero Hot Sauce, at the table

The rice. In a pot, warm the garlic and onion with the onion powder in a little oil until soft. Add the beans and their liquid, the coconut milk, water, thyme, pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil. Add the rice and stir once. Lay the whole chile on top. Cover, lowest heat, 20 minutes. Do not stir. Let it rest 10 minutes off the heat, then fluff. Lift the chile out whole and set it aside for the person who wants it.
The chicken. Salt the thighs. Brown them in the oil, skin side down first, 5 minutes a side. Remove. Cook the onion and sweet pepper in the pan until soft, add the garlic, thyme, allspice, ginger, and pepper for a minute, then return the chicken and pour in the coconut milk. Simmer, partly covered, 30 to 35 minutes, until the chicken is tender and the sauce has thickened and gone gold. Salt.
The plate. Rice and beans, a piece of chicken with its sauce over the rice, cabbage salad, a fried ripe plantain. Hot sauce for the ones who want it. Pan bon and a ginger beer if a Caribbean bakery is anywhere near you.