These sesame seed biscuits are known as “benne wafers” where I currently reside in the South. These cookies have a little crispy texture thanks to the benne (sesame) seeds that have been toasted to enhance flavor. Cookies should be kept cool and sealed.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 55 mins |
| Additional Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked white rice
- 4 cups water
- 1 egg
- 1 potato, peeled and cubed
- 1 cup vegetable oil for frying
- 3 small tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ½ large onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground dried aji chile
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 large carrots, peeled and cubed
- ¼ cup frozen peas
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh tomato
- 1 teaspoon ketchup
Instructions
- Bring the rice and 4 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender, and the liquid has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Place the egg into a saucepan, and cover with water by 1 inch. Cover the saucepan and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, remove from the heat and let the egg stand in the hot water for 15 minutes. Pour out the hot water, then cool the egg under cold running water in the sink. Peel once cold. Chop the egg and set aside in a small bowl.
- Heat 1 cup of vegetable oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Deep fry the potato cubes until golden brown, about 5 minutes; drain on paper towels, and set aside.
- Place tomatoes and 1/2 cup of water in a blender, and puree until tomatoes are liquefied (peel and seed first, if desired).
- Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the onion, garlic, aji chile powder, cumin, black pepper, and oregano until the onion begins to brown, 8 to 10 minutes; pour in the pureed tomatoes, and simmer for 5 more minutes, stirring often. Mix in the ground beef and carrots, and cook until the meat is no longer pink and the carrots are tender, about 10 minutes. Break the meat up into small chunks as it cooks. Mix in the chopped hard-cooked egg, peas, and peanut butter until thoroughly combined. Finally, gently stir in the cubes of fried potato.
- To assemble the dish, oil a flexible plastic bowl (at least 1 cup size) and press cooked rice into the bottom to fill 1/3 of the bowl. Layer about 3/4 inch of meat mixture over the rice, and top with more cooked rice to fill the bowl. With an oiled hand, gently press on the rice to compact the mixture; place a serving plate on top of the bowl, flip, and turn out the rice and meat-filled form. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Garnish with sprinkles of cilantro, chopped tomato, and dollops of ketchup on each serving.
- If you can’t find ground aji chile powder, substitute with smoked paprika.
- We have determined the nutritional value of oil for frying based on a retention value of 10% after cooking. The exact amount will vary depending on cooking time and temperature, ingredient density, and the specific type of oil used.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 510 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 63 g |
| Cholesterol | 81 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 23 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 116 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
We Peruvians do not use peanut butter in our food, and in this recipe Never add ketchup. Otherwise I will give 5 stars. This Arroz Tapado, is a classic in our recipes, we add fresh Parsley and fresh Cilantro, and a Yellow Pepper that we only can get it frozen in USA, unfortunately, is a Major ingredient in Peruvian Cuisine.
So many steps, so good when you have time to do a few things in advance. Tasted pretty good and looked cool. I was only able to make 4 with these quantities. Family enjoyed them.
Hi I made this for my hubby so I tweaked it!, for the potatoes, I substituted cooked diced potatoes in a can! I tossed them with Evoo salt and pepper and stuck them in the air fryer for 7 minutes. Came out perfect! I also used 2 tablespoons of Evoo to brown the seasonings, added the hamburger, pored in liquified tomatoes, then lastly, tossed in the potatoes! He loved it!! Eliminate the oil!!
Very good but I am glad I reviewed the reviews first. The rice definitely needed salt. I also added a bit of salt to the meat mixture. I didn’t have ground beef but I did have some roast beef, which I put through the food processor. To save time I assembled the dishes and covered them. About 45 minutes before we were to sit down with our guests, I put the dishes in the oven to heat. The potatoes weren’t crisp by then but it didn’t matter. I will definitely make this again.
My family loved this. I added beef bullion cubes to the rice and skipped adding the boiled egg. We didn’t have aji powder so I used aji paste from a jar.
I made some changes for convenience: – Used frozen peas and carrots – Used frozen O’brien hash brown potatoes (comes with onion and green pepper) Cooked ground beef first, removed with slotted spoon and cooked potatoes in leftover grease for more taste. Definitely need to spice this up. Nearly doubled all the herbs and spices, tasting as I went along. Needed salt, so I added Goya adobo. Came out great! Peruvian wife and in-laws loved it!
This smelled amazing while I was preparing it, but I was somewhat disappointed in the taste. I drained the fat after cooking the hamburger, so that may have caused a lot of my flavor to diminish. I didn’t add cilantro, but if I had I am sure it would help with the bland taste. I may try this again, but try for stronger flavor in the meat mixture. I will also add salt to my rice.
Made it without the peanut butter tho. And we all love it
My son demolished his. My husband liked as I did as well. Must have great. I made them a little more individual. I did follow the recipe. I had to use a cereal bowl. I had nothing smaller. My husband requested mixed vegetables in his. He also added homemade taco sauce. I added yellow squash, green pepper and zucchini. I would like to add cheese to the top next time. Awesome dish and already has been requested to made again. They were all shocked to learn that it had peanut butter in it…
I really like the idea of this recipe, but the meat was really bland. I just happened to be making chicken noodle soup at the same time so I kept adding the broth from my soup to the meat mixture, because I also did not want to fry the potatoes. I added the potatoes at the same time as the carrots. I cut the potato up in really small cubes and added the chicken broth. I put in some garlic salt and some creole seasoning to give the meat more flavor. Without adding the broth, garlic salt and creole seasoning the meat would have been really bland. As someone has already said, if you are on a low sodium diet then this would be a good recipe, otherwise it is better with modifications.
Overall, this was a fun and pretty ethnic dish to make. I think that because of the amount of rice, the flavor was just a bit bland and that the meat mixture would be better with more peanut butter and maybe some extra spice.
Something new, fun, & tasty for the whole family! You can make your own flavorful design with a “saucy” topping, some of us used hot sauce, others used soy…to each his own & boy was it good.
This was good but I felt the cumin was too present in the taste. This was really just arroz con picadillo with a pretty presentation. A nice spin on making this look nice though
This was an easy weeknight dinner. I had leftover beef to use up (ground it in the food processor), and many of the ingredients here are pantry staples. Having said that I didn’t have cumin and substituted chili powder. I’d probably put more potato in next time – I loved the crunchy touch it added. I used a 9 inche cake pan, and wasn’t going to flip it thinking it wouldn’t come out. It did, though – and it was pretty! I even flipped the leftovers (there are just two of us) back into the cake plate. Mission accomplished: something different from beef leftovers!
This was really super good! I added some salt to the rice as suggested by other reviewers. I also forgot to add the potatoes, so I just put them on top. I dont like ketchup so we didnt use that. Really yummy and cool looking recipe. Not very hard to make either!
This will become a regular in our house! Very enjoyable.
This was great! I used fake burger.
I loved this recipe, hubby and kids only liked it, so 4/5 from me. It sure is easy, and I think the flavor is excellent! Plus it is a fun presentation and something really different for a weeknight. I often have hardboiled eggs ready to go in the fridge and that cuts prep time down to ‘long enough to cook rice and smash it in a bowl,’ about 30 minutes. Hubby found this dish to be on the plain side for his taste and ended up adding fish oil and chili oil and stirring it in (ew, but whatever, he had to eat it) and said that made it fantastic. I appreciate the opportunity to try this out and I will love eating the leftovers!
This was a hit. I have a very picky husband. I followed the recipe to the tee. However, I was a little aprehensive to adding the peanut butter, I thought it was a little unusaual, and I knew that he doesn’t like peanut butter. But nontheless, he loved it and this was a great recipe. Make sure you have enough time to create this wonderful dish. It does take a lot out of you, but it is well worth it! Thanks for the recipe!
This is a fun recipe and I love how the flavors compliment each other. The presentation was great and it was filling. I used spinach rather than peas and it was a good substitute.
This is a really nice recipe. My whole family liked it. Just one change that I made (well two actually). I added salt to the cooking water in the rice. This recipe has no salt at all so for people on a low salt diet this is great. But I think if I didn’t salt the rice it would have been really bland. The other thing I did differently was that I browned the meat in a separate pan and then drained the fat. The recipe was a little time consuming but worth it. A really delicious recipe.