Arroz con gandules
{{Short description|Puerto Rican rice and pork dish}}
{{Infobox prepared food
| name = Arroz con gandules
| image = Arrozcongandules2.jpg
| caption =
| alternate_name =
| country = Puerto Rico
| region = Greater Antilles
| creator =
| course = Dinner
| served =
| main_ingredient = Medium-grain rice, pigeon peas, sofrito, annatto, and pork
| cookbook = Arroz con Gandules
| variations =
| calories =
| other =
}}
Arroz con gandules is a combination of rice, pigeon peas, and pork, cooked in the same pot with sofrito. This is Puerto Rico's national dish along with roasted pork.{{cite news |title=Reporter's Notebook|newspaper=York Daily Record|publisher=York, Pennsylvania|date=15 December 2003|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/555749450/ |access-date=14 July 2020|quote=In the tradition of her Puerto Rican background, she was making ... arroz con gandles, also known as pigeon peas and rice.}}{{cite news |title=El Gusto Boricua|newspaper=El Nuevo Herald|publisher=Miami, Florida|date=27 July 2011|first=Yined|last=Ramírez-Hendrix|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/655608371 |language=es |access-date=14 July 2020|quote=Una de las ofertas más buscadas se llama el plato boricua, que consiste de arroz con guandules, pernil y pastel"}}{{cite news|title=Sofrito, imprescindible para latinos|newspaper=El Nuevo Herald|publisher=Miami, Florida|date=6 January 1999|first=Viviana|last=Carballo|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/641731265/|language=es |access-date=14 July 2020|quote=Se puede decir que el arroz con guandules es el plato nacional de Puerto Rico.}}
Preparation
File:Arroz con gandules y pollo.jpg
This dish is mainly served during the Christmas season or for special occasions.{{cite news | title=Los gandules de Navidad| newspaper=El Nuevo Herald| date=14 December 2005 | first=Giovanna|last=Huyke| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/653315563/| language=es | access-date=14 July 2020|quote=...sabores que me encantan o que evocan fiestas como es la Navidad puertorriqueña. ¡A cocinar gandules!...Arroz con gandules y pasteles para la Navidad Puertorriqueña.}} The sofrito is the most important part of seasoning the rice. In Puerto Rican cooking sofrito, which is used as a base in many recipes, typically consists of the following ingredients: Recao, cilantro, yellow onions, garlic, aji dulce peppers, red bell pepper, cubanelle peppers, and tomatoes or tomato sauce. Sofrito is blended into a watery or paste consistency. The idea is for the rice to absorb the sofrito for maximum flavor. Tomatoes are typically roasted the day of preparation while the rest of the ingredients can be prepared together days in advance. The tomatoes are squeezed through a fine strainer
discarding the seeds and skin.{{cite news
|title=Culture Corner What:Arroz con gandules
|newspaper=South Florida sun Sentinel
|publisher=Fort Lauderdale, Florida
|date=28 January 2007
|first=Beth
|last=Feinstein-Bartl
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/286241768/
|access-date=14 July 2020
|quote=Wherever you find a Puerto Rican, you will find arroz con gandules.}}{{cite news
|title=For North Jersey's Latino families Christmas Eve is a night of thanks
|newspaper=The Record
|publisher=Hackensack, New Jersey
|date=24 December 1997
|first=Miguel
|last=Perez
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/498410722/
|access-date=14 July 2020
|quote=I'm roasting the pork and making the arroz con gandules...when all those treats come together, you have a traditional Puerto Rican Nochebuena meal.}}
The day of cooking the first step is cooking the pigeon peas if they are being prepared from dried form or fresh, although the canned and frozen variety are widely available in Latino markets or supermarkets in cities where there is a significant Puerto Rican population. In a separate pot, annatto seeds are heated with an oil such as olive oil, or lard. The oil is strained and seeds are discarded. Annatto oil gives the rice a distinctive yellow/orange color.{{cite news
|title=Spice up your supper with arroz
|newspaper=The Daily Journal
|publisher=Vineland, New Jersey
|date=5 March 1997
|first=Fran
|last=LoBiondo
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/280495814/
|access-date=14 July 2020
}}
Salt pork, ham, smoked ham hocks, bacon, salchichón (salami), or chorizo is added alone or in combination. The sofrito is also sauteed in the annatto oil to release the aromatics and cooked until most of the water has evaporated while stirring gently.{{cite book| title=Cocina criolla | first=Carmen|last=Aboy Valldejuli|page=457|year=1967|publisher=Alpine Press, South Braintree, Massachusetts}}
A mix of manzanilla olives, piquillo peppers, and capers fermented together called alcaparrado is added with bay leaves are then added and cooked until sauce is thick almost to a paste. Rice, pigeon peas, salt, black pepper, cumin, and in some recipes orégano brujo and coriander seeds are then added and stirred until the rice is coated with sofrito. Broth is then poured into the pot and cooked on high heat then lowered once boiling starts and covered with a plantain leaf and lid. Plantain leaves give the rice more flavor, aroma and helps cook quicker. In the countryside this is cooked over open fire pit sometimes in clay pots that help boost the flavor.{{cite news
|title=This Puerto Rican Will Check That Little Census Box Properly
|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee
|publisher=Sacramento, California
|date=24 February 1980
|first=Ronald
|last=Arroyo
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/621789358/
|access-date=14 July 2020
|quote=My wife is Mexican-American. And when I request Puerto Rican arroz con gandules for dinner, I get it as a side dish...}}{{cite news
|title=Students immerse themselves in Hispanic culture, foods at Tremper
|newspaper=Kenosha News
|publisher=Kenosha, Wisconsin
|date=15 January 2011
|first=Kevin
|last=Poirier
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/598331160/
|access-date=14 July 2020
|quote=To stimulate those senses, she organizes cooking demonstrations ... the students cooked Cuban Platanos Maduros and Puerto Rican Arroz con Gandules.}}
A version called arroz con gandules apastelado or simply arroz con gandules adds mashed green plantain into the rice and plantain peels as a cover with additional plantain leaf.
See also
- Gallo Pinto—The equivalent dish in Nicaragua and Costa Rica
- Hoppin' John—The equivalent dish in the Southern United States
- List of legume dishes
- List of rice dishes
- Moro de guandules—The equivalent dish in the Dominican Republic
- Pabellón criollo—The equivalent dish in Venezuela
- Platillo Moros y Cristianos—The equivalent dish in Cuba
- Rice and beans
- Rice and peas—The equivalent dish in Jamaica
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://latinfood.about.com/od/maindishes/r/ricegandules.htm Quick Arroz con gandules recipe] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107162834/http://latinfood.about.com/od/maindishes/r/ricegandules.htm |date=2010-01-07 }})
{{Rice dishes}}
{{Legume dishes}}
Category:Latin American pork dishes