Arroz Con Gondules?

Question

My children recently lost their father and he was the one who would make the Arroz Con Gondules I am a country girl and he was a city boy from Philly in a Puerto Rican Family. I want to carry on the best way I can the food part of the Puerto Rican Culture for my children. When they go out to Philly to visit with their dads family they can give them the culture on a whole. Please help any authentic recipes for Arroz Con Gondules?

Answer 1

Arroz Con Gandules

2 tablespoons Olive oil
4 tablespoons Sofrito
1 14 oz can gandules pigeon peas, I use the Goya brand
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 packet Sazon Goya
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups short grain white rice
1-2 cups water, spring or filtered
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and Sofrito. Stir-fry the Sofrito for 2-4 minutes until lightly golden. Add the gandules, tomato sauce, Sazon packet, half cup of the water and the salt. Stir well, cover and simmer on medium low heat while you wash the rice Wash the rice in cool water rinsing continuously until the water is no longer cloudy Add the rice to the Dutch oven, mix well and raise the heat to high. Add the remaining cup and a half of water to the rice and stir with a large cooking spoon until just combined. At this point you will need to make sure that you have enough water in the pot. You can do this by inserting a tablespoon in the middle of the pot, if it falls over slowly, you have enough water. If it falls too quickly, you have too much; remove small amounts of the water repeating the spoon method until the spoon slowly falls over. If the spoon stands at attention, add more water or the rice will be al dente and not soft and fluffy, which is what we’re going for. The rice will begin to cook rapidly at this point. The sauce combined with the high heat will cause some of the rice to stick to the bottom of the pan so you must monitor the rice closely, stirring, almost folding with the large spoon often so as to reduce as much of the sticky rice as possible. Once the water has been consumed by the rice, lower the heat to low, pile the rice in a nice mound getting as much as you can away from the sides of the pot, cover with aluminum foil and the Dutch oven lid and cook for 20-25 minutes.
Arroz con gandules goes with any type of meat or vegetable