Rice with Minced Meat and Fried Banana

This rice is a classic of my mother's everyday cooking. It's a simple dish. My wife loves it, so whenever we spend a few days at my parents' house, she always ends up making it one day or another.

The combination of fried banana with the meat and the rice works really well. For me it's a dish that's good but not sublime; if it's well made I give it a 7, which isn't bad at all.

Let me explain this idea, my rating scale: it goes up to 10, when something is not just good but sublime. There are dishes that, well made, can aim for a 10, and others that, even executed to perfection (this one is a good example), can only aim for an 8 — and an 8 isn't easy to achieve in the kitchen. Something that scores an 8 is delicious.

To understand it, think of vaults in artistic gymnastics. Each vault has a difficulty that gives it a maximum score; if it's performed perfectly, that score is achieved. Some vaults have a maximum of 10, others 9 or 9.5. For me, cooking is the same. A Spanish potato omelette, you might say, is a 10, but for me it's a 7 dish at most, so if it's made masterfully, it can get a 7 — a "good", a fine dish. But not a 10.

The difference between this dish at 8 and a similar one that's only a 6 — the trick that takes it up a level — is the sherry, which gives it a brilliant touch. If you make it without sherry it will disappoint you; with sherry, it will pleasantly surprise you.

Rice with minced meat and fried banana

Ingredients

• Basmati rice (it's fine with other rice too, but we're going for the 8)
• Minced meat, half pork, half beef
• 1 egg
• Onion
• Dry sherry
• 2 bananas

Method

Peel the onion and cut it into thin julienne strips. Brown it in a frying pan with olive oil. Add the minced meat, stir well and cook until the meat is well done; at that point add a good splash of dry sherry and let it evaporate, stirring constantly. Beat an egg, as if for an omelette, and add it to the meat, stirring all the time. Season with salt and pepper and the meat is ready.

Boil the rice in plenty of water and, after about 20 minutes (it depends on the type of rice), once it's cooked, cool it with water, then drain it well to get rid of all the water.

Cut the banana into strips and fry it in plenty of oil. It should be golden.

To plate up, simply put a little rice, a little of the minced meat and some fried banana on a serving dish or on the plate.

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