Serves 4 to 6 people
Your gift of $15 buys a family in need groceries to make a healthy meal.

Ingredients

• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 3/4 cup diced multicolored bell peppers
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cooked bacon
• 1/2 to 1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 3/4 to 1 cup washed, finely chopped cilantro including stems
• 2 T. canola oil
• 1 1/2 T. Lizano sauce (or Worcestershire sauce)
• 1/2 T. Tabasco sauce
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups long-grain white rice cooked in fat-free, low-sodium chicken stock instead of water
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro leaves for garnish

Directions

1. Sauté the onions, peppers, bacon, beans, and cilantro in the oil over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes. Season with Lizano sauce (or Worcestershire or both), Tabasco sauce, salt, and pepper. (Keep in mind that the seasoning sauces already contain salt, so salt with a light hand.) Continue sautéing for 2 more minutes.
2. Add the rice gradually, making sure it gets well coated with sauce. Use a firm spatula to break any large clumps of rice. Sauté for 2 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed.
3. Serve the gallo pinto garnished with cilantro leaves.
   

About the recipe author

Amalia Moreno-Damgaard is a local award-winning author and chef with a passion for fresh and healthy eating. She specializes in Latin and Spanish gourmet cuisine and culture. Her cookbook, Amalia’s Guatemalan Kitchen-Gourmet Cuisine with a Cultural Flair, is the winner of 6 national awards, including Best Foreign Cuisine Book USA by Gourmand World Cookbooks. More atAmaliaLLC.com.

Salvation Army food fact

Our food shelves in diverse neighborhoods offer culturally-specific foods, such as Hispanic staples like rice, maseca flour, cooking oil, canned vegetables, canned fruit, canned jalapenos and other peppers, salsa, and hot sauce.

Find more recipes from Minnesota “food heroes” on The Salvation ArmyRecipeShare page.