Breaded, pounded beef cutlets shallow-fried then simmered in a yellow-pepper sauce with peas, served over rice and potatoes despite containing no rabbit at all.
The whimsical name - fake rabbit - comes from poorer eras when rabbit was a prized meat and cooks stretched cheap beef to mimic the texture and presentation of a rabbit dish. It became a beloved fixture of everyday Bolivian home kitchens, especially in La Paz and Oruro.
Each cutlet keeps a faintly crisp breaded edge that softens as it drinks in the warm, fruity yellow-pepper gravy. The beef is tender and savory, the sauce gently spiced and clinging. It is humble, saucy, deeply homey.
Breading and frying first creates a textured crust that later thickens the braising sauce as it partly dissolves, while pounding the beef breaks down fibers so the thin cutlets stay tender through the simmer.
Variations
with red chili instead of yellow, extra peas and carrots, spicier with locoto, served with chuño
On the Palate
Where Falso Conejo sits in the Bolivian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 20 min
- 110 min
Pound beef slices thin and tenderize them well.
Watch outPound the slices thin and even so they stay tender through the braise — thick or uneven cutlets turn chewy in the simmer.
- 25 min
Dredge the cutlets in beaten egg and then breadcrumbs.
- 310 min
Shallow-fry the breaded cutlets until golden on both sides.
Watch outFry the breaded cutlets to a real golden crust — that crust later melts into the sauce and thickens it, so pale ones leave a thin gravy.
- 48 min
Saute onion, tomato and ground yellow aji into a sauce.
- 55 min
Add broth and green peas to the sauce and bring to a simmer.
- 62 min
Return the fried cutlets to the sauce to absorb flavor.
- 715 min
Simmer gently until the meat is tender and sauce thickens.
Watch outSimmer gently so the meat softens and the sauce thickens — a hard boil after the fry makes the crust slough off and the meat tighten.
- 83 min
Serve over white rice with boiled potatoes.
