Bandeja paisa is a typical meal in Colombia, especially in the city of Medellín. Paisa refers to the Paisa region of the country, made up of the Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío departments. Bandeja means “platter,” as this dish is intended to be served on a large platter, since it includes so much food!
I tried the vegetarian version of the bandeja paisa! The original bandeja paisa usually contains red beans, rice, ground beef, chorizo (a type of pork sausage) with lime, plantain, arepa (a sort of pancake made from corn meal), avocado, fried egg and a big piece of pork belly. As you can see, this dish contains mostly meat, so my vegetarian version had several substitutes. On my plate, I had red beans, quinoa (which is similar to rice but contains a lot of protein), vegetarian ground meat (which is made from soy), plantain and avocado!
