My friend Sara will laugh when she reads this since we were just talking about the insane absence of an accurate recipe for Puerto Rican rice, or arroz con gandules, online or in any cookbook that I could find.
I must admit, this has me mildly obsessed. Scott's former mother-in-law often made this national dish of Puerto Rico, and my attempts to get the recipe from her have proved fruitless since it exists in her head only and much of it must be seasoned, measured, and cooked according to "taste, texture and the way it looks as it is coming together."
Sara reiterated this same experience when she was trying to learn the art of Puerto Rican rice from her mother-in-law, and my friend Julie will tell you the same story from when her paternal grandmother was teaching her the dish. There is no recipe, you must taste, check the texture, and season as needed, watching as it all comes together for consistency, and tasting for the correct flavors.
I spent countless hours online searching for recipes to get me started in the right direction, with limited knowledge of the ingredients and just the delicious taste of the rice in my mouth from an evening Barb sent a dinner of Puerto Rican fried pork chops and arroz con gandules over for us after work.
Those of you who are familiar with my articles likely know I adore ethnic cuisine, and much of the cooking we do in our home consists of us replicating Korean, Spanish, French and other worldly cuisines, so I guess it's not surprising I'm mildly obsessed with nailing this rice dish, but it has been somewhat frustrating.
The recipes on the actual gandules verdes (green pigeon peas) cans don't include items I know to be in this concoction, like olives and capers, nor do many of the recipes online which also claim to be arroz con gandules. Finally, I just started mixing all the recipes together and doing research and some experimentation to see if I could manipulate this dish enough until I perfect it. I will be walking into my third attempt next weekend, but I'm pretty sure I've got it close enough now that the third time will be the charm. I've included my mismatched recipe below for your enjoyment and/or scrutiny and advice if there's someone out there who can unveil the mystique of arroz con gandules, because I've found it to truly be an art, and a science.
First item of note: Your cookware.
You need to make this rice in a cast aluminum rice pot called a caldero which, like a good wok, really needs to be seasoned. This pot is fairly inexpensive, and it will allow you to cook perfect rice and also once you get the hang of it, to allow a bit to stick to the bottom and cook until it is brown and crisp, leaving you with "pegao," which is Scott's favorite. I've seen them at Sam's Club, Pick 'n Save, Sentry and online.
Second item of note: The ingredients.
One word. Goya.
Okay, so in a pinch, you can use La Preferrida, but your standard tomato sauce and olives just aren't going to give this dish the right flavor. Secondly, don't screw around with the fresh vegetables and herbs in this dish; you can't substitute dried cilantro or reconstituted onions for anything here, so get yourself all fresh veggies and herbs. My best bet for this recipe thus far has proved to be the Sentry on Chase Ave., which has a huge, fully stocked Hispanic aisle awash with Goya labels. Thirdly, be prepared that once you try Sazón Goya con cilantro y achiote (with coriander and annatto) you are going to want to put it on everything, especially marinated pork chops. And lastly, meat is optional; I know there are variations on this dish with ham and/or bacon in them, but I haven't wandered in that direction.
Okay, that being said, here are the ingredients for my work-in-progress arroz con gandules:
For the sofrito:
1 cup (about a handful) of cilantro
1/2 cup (about 1/2 a handful) of parsley
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp fresh oregano
1 tbsp cider vinegar
2-3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
Combine all ingredients in food processor except the olive oil. Once the mixture is chopped and mixed up, drizzle in the olive oil until it becomes the consistency of a pesto. Take out four tablespoons and put the rest of the mixture into an ice cube tray and freeze into cubes. The next time you want to make the rice, start with two of your frozen sofrito cubes.
4 tbsps olive oil
1 packet Sazón Goya con cilantro y achiote
4 tbsps sofrito
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 cup Goya PITTED alcaparrado (buy the pitted version or you'll have to stop eating and pick the pits out of your olives!!!!) This is a mixture of green olives, pimentos and capers-you need about half a jar.
1 15-oz. can Goya green pigeon peas with liquid
1 8-oz. can Goya tomato sauce
2 cups Goya medium grain rice
4 cups warm water
Salt and pepper to taste
Third item of note: The rules
You cannot, I repeat, cannot stir the rice more than twice once it starts to cook, or you'll end up with a sticky, albeit delicious, mess. I learned this by doing.
You cannot, I repeat, cannot lift the lid on the pan once you set the rice to simmer, or again, you'll end up with a sticky, albeit delicious, mess. Yep, been there, too.
Okay, and now we're finally ready to make the rice.
Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in your caldero and stir in the packet Sazón Goya con cilantro y achiote until the oil is warm and the ground annatto seed has turned it a lovely reddish color. Add the onion, pepper, cilantro and sofrito and sauté until the onions become slightly translucent, about five minutes. Add the alcaparrado and the tomato sauce. Stir in the can of pigeon peas with the liquid, and two cups of rice. Add the water, about four cups, so that the water lies just about an inch over the rice. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring the dish to a boil until the water is absorbed. DO NOT STIR THE RICE UNTIL THE WATER IS ABSORBED. Once the water is absorbed, stir the rice twice from bottom to top, put the lid on the caldero, and turn the heat to low. Allow the rice to simmer for 30 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes before lifting the cover. The rice should be an orangey red color, and the bottom of the rice should be crusty and slightly stuck to the pan. Serve with ham or pork chops. Salud.
Amy L. Schubert is a 15-year veteran of the hospitality industry and has worked in every aspect of bar and restaurant operations. A graduate of Marquette University (B.A.-Writing Intensive English, 1997) and UW-Milwaukee (M.A.-Rhetoric, Composition, and Professional Writing, 2001), Amy still occasionally moonlights as a guest bartender and she mixes a mean martini.
The restaurant business seems to be in Amy’s blood, and she prides herself in researching and experimenting with culinary combinations and cooking techniques in her own kitchen as well as in friends’ restaurants. Both she and her husband, Scott, are avid cooks and “wine heads,” and love to entertain friends, family and neighbors as frequently as possible.
Amy and Scott live with their boys, Alex and Nick, in Bay View, where they are all very active in the community. Amy finds great pleasure in sharing her knowledge and passions for food and writing in her contributions to OnMilwaukee.com.
