• Capital: San Jose
• Population: about 4.5 million
• Area: 51 100 km²
• Currency: Costa Rican colón

For my Costa Rican meal I made gallo pinto and Costa Rican style hot sauce. Gallo pinto is a traditional dish made with rice and black beans. The Costa Rican hot sauce is made with guajillo hot peeper and a bunch of delicious spices. Here are the recipes!

Costa Rican style hot sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 dried guajillo chiles
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons molasses
• 2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

First measure out all the ingredients. Roughly chop the carrot and the onion. Cut the chilis in half lengthwise and remove the seeds.

In a saucepan slightly roast the chiles on high heat for about a minute on each side. Don’t worry if they get slightly black. Once the chiles are roasted add 1 1/2 cup water. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, remove the chiles from the water and put them in a blender along with 1 cup of the cooking water. Put all the other ingredients in the blender.

Blend until smooth. Put in bottles or use right away with gallo pinto!

Gallo pinto

Ingredients:

• 2 bay leaves
• 1 pound black beans
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup Costa Rican hot sauce
• 3 cups cooked rice
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Directions:

The day before, soak the black beans in cold water.

The next day, drain and rinse the beans. Put them in a large pot and cover with water. The beans should be about 2 inches under the water. Add a couple bay leaves, a couple of stems cilantro and 2 cloves of whole peeled cloves of garlic.

Bring to a boil, cover and let simmer for 1 1/2 hour. After 1 1/2 hour, taste the beans to make sure they are tender. If they are not tender cook for another 30 minutes.

Once the beans are cooked, remove the cilantro stems, garlic cloves and bay leaves. Salt to taste and keep them in cooking liquid.

Now that the beans are ready. Chop the black pepper and the onion. Dice the garlic and measure out all the other ingredients.

In a large skillet or a wok, heat some oil on high heat and cook the onion, bell pepper for about 5 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.

Add 2 cups of strained black beans along with 3/4 cup of black beans cooking liquid to the onions and peppers.

Add the Costa Rican hot sauce, stir and simmer for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add the cooked rice. Cook until rice is heated through and most of the liquid is gone. Adjust salt to taste and top with chopped cilantro. Serve with some Costa Rican hot sauce on the side and an egg.

Buen provecho!