Falso Conejo (Is it really a Fake Rabbit?)

Why is this dish called Falso Conejo or Fake Rabbit? I do not have the answer but I can tell you that is very delicious! The dish really doesn’t look or taste like rabbit meat. You can use any type of ground meat but my favorite is ground meat from a local farmer that is low in fat or even bison meat which is very lean and healthy.

Serves 4

1 medium onion
1 small green pepper dice
½ red tomato dice
2 small carrots peeled and cut it in Julienne Strips
3 tablespoon  parsley leaves chopped
2 garlic gloves minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
olive oil
salt
pepper
1 ½ cup of rice
6 cups of water

1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 lb ground meat
1 cup of bread crumbs
2 medium size red potato peeled and in half
½ cup of frozen green peas

Cooking Instructions:
The rice for this dish is called arroz blanco, just regular white rice but you cook it slightly differently than the way you would typically cook rice. Boil 6 cups of water. Once that is boiling, wash the rice in cold water until the water is clear and pour the rice into the boiling water and let it boil for 5 min. Drain the water and wash the rice with cold water again. Put a light covering of olive oil in the empty pot (or a frying pan) and add the rice. Cover, set to minimum heat and let the rice cook for another 20 min or until it is ready.

Cook the vegetables in a medium size pot with a tablespoon of olive oil or until the onions are cooked. Add 4 cups of water and let it cook for 15 min.

Meanwhile we will  prepare the meat. Add salt and pepper to the ground meat and divide it in four pieces of the same size. Make a little ball of each piece like you do for meatballs. Each meatball is going to be rolled flat  into the bread crumbs on a flat surface.

After you are done the four pieces, we are going to pan seared in high both sides of the meat.

Add the garlic and the cumin and cooked for 10 min at medium high. Add at the last minute the Green peas. If the sauce is not thick enough add 2 tbs of bread crumbs.

Serve warm topping with some chopped parsley. Optional: place halved boiled potatoes  underneath the meat and juice!

Enjoy!