Five Dominican dishes you have to try

Dominican cooking is generous, unpretentious and built on rice, beans, plantain and whatever the sea and the garden provide. La bandera dominicana, the flag, is the everyday lunch: white rice, stewed red beans and meat, usually with a salad and fried plantain. It is what families eat at midday and what you will find in every comedor. Mofongo is mashed green plantain with garlic and crackling, served as a dome and often filled with shrimp or chicken. It is heavy, salty and completely addictive. Sancocho is the celebration dish, a thick stew of seven meats and root vegetables cooked slowly and served with rice and avocado. Dominicans make it for birthdays, rain and hangovers. Pescado frito is a whole fried fish, usually served on the beach with tostones and a cold Presidente. Ask for it at the shacks on Playa Ensenada. Finally, habichuelas con dulce, a sweet cream of red beans with coconut milk, sugar and cinnamon, eaten around Easter. Strange on paper, delicious in practice.