Unpacking the Rich Flavors of Belize’s Relleno Negro Dish

Relleno Negro a local favorite! The black recado gives it an intriguing dark color—but don’t let the color throw you off! It’s truly a wonderful, classic Latin American dish.

Ingredients

• Chicken
• Vegetable Oil
• Black recado
• Season Salt
• Cumin
• Black Pepper
• Garlic
• 2 Tomato
• 1 Sweet Pepper
• 1 large Onion
• 3 Hard-boiled eggs
• Ground steak

Prep Work:

1. Cut the chicken into medium sized pieces
2. Chop up the tomato, sweet pepper, and onion
3. Season the ground steak with the season salt, cumin, black pepper, and garlic and then roll the seasoned ground steak into medium sized balls
4. Fill a large pot 3/4 with water and put on stove to boil

Instructions:

1. Put a large saucepan on medium heat and grease it with the vegetable oil
2. Next, place the chopped chicken, tomato, onion, and sweet pepper in the saucepan. Then season it with the season salt, cumin, black pepper, and garlic.
3. Once your (separate) pot of water comes to a boil, add the black recado to it and let that simmer for a bit before adding your chicken and veggies.
4. Once the soup has been sitting for a few minutes, gently drop the balls of ground steak into it.
5. Place a lid on the pot and let simmer on low heat until the steak balls are cooked all the way through.
6. Add the boiled eggs.
7. Serve with corn tortillas or rice—ENJOY!