Come one come all to learn the history of Puerto Rico’s national dish: Arroz con Gandules!

 

This recipe is one of the most important recipes of the Puerto Rican culture, hence why it’s considered a National dish. Everyone makes their recipe different, obviously I have been drilling this into your brain for the past seven weeks or so; but most recipes entail basic seasonings that everyone uses like rice, green pigeon peas, pork, sofrito, and tomato sauce. This is a recipe that is passed down from generation to generation, tweaked here and there but no one is to make it to adulthood without perfecting their Arroz con Gandules.

 

Arroz con gandules is a dish that is mostly cooked for the holidays; Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s wouldn’t be a holiday without this dish along with El Gran Combo singing “La Fiesta de Pilito” in the background, with some Coquito in hand. It’s often accompanied with a turkey for thanksgiving, but mainly pernil for any other time this recipe is created.

 

It is a blend of flavors that hits the tip of your tongue and sings to your soul. Each and every bite fills your senses like rolling waves, and you find yourself swaying in dance with each mouthful like the whimsical palm trees of our island.        

   

 

Now before we go to the recipe, you know what time it is! That’s right, history time!

 

Arroz con gandules is sort of the physical representation of what makes Puerto Rico. The contents to make this recipe couldn’t happen without the influences of the three ancestorial aspects that makes our culture. What I mean is, without the Spaniard side we wouldn’t have the rice, pork, oil, or herbs like cilantro. Without the African side we wouldn’t have the gandules, and without our Taino side we wouldn’t have the recao/culantro, peppers and sweet and spicy chili peppers to create this one dish. Each and every side to our cultural has contributed in some way, shape, or form to this National dish.

 

In the 16th century the Spaniards brought over rice, but it was our African ancestors who learned how to cultivate the land and continued the production of rice for their own livelihood.

 

The process of cooking rice was all through experimentation with compound rice (rice mixed with another ingredient) was something that was made only on special occasion (very much like it is done now). Compound rice is cooked depending on the seasonal availability of ingredients. Every season called for a different rice, Rice with meat, Rice with different herbs, Rice with different beans, thus the Arroz con gandules.

 

Arroz con gandules is a popular dish in other parts of the world and Caribbean Islands. For example, in the early 1900’s Puerto Rican’s began migration. During their migration they brought over recipes that influenced different versions in other cultures. One of those places was Hawaii, and now they make a variation of the recipe based on their local seasonal ingredients.

 

Thank you for my Ted talk, now to the recipe!

 

Before we start, here is a brief explanation of how rice is cooked: Each 1 cup of dried rice will make 2 cups of cooked rice. Also, the amount of water changes based on the type of rice you use. So, the traditional 2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice does not always apply. It’s a great reference to start but stick to the spoon rule instead: Cover the rice in water based on the 1 cup rice to 2 cup water rule. If the spoon stands straight up in the middle of your caldero, then you know you’ve added the right amount of water. If it falls, you have way too much and you need to take some out.

 

Intermediate recipe: for 4 people

Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1.     2 cups of Rice (long grain but any grain is ok)

2.     1- 16 ounce can of Gandules

3.     About 3 to 4 cups of Water

4.     1 tablespoon of Canola oil (olive and vegetable are fine alternatives)

5.     1 piece of Smoked Pork neck bones (smoked turkey neck bones is a great replacement as well as diced salt pork, or you can leave it out if you want. It won’t taste the same but it’s still good)

6.     2 tablespoons of Sofrito

7.     1 – 8 ounce can of Tomato sauce

8.     2 long leaves of recao/culantro (chopped)

9.     2 sprigs of Cilantro (chopped)

10.  2 garlic cloves (chopped)

11.  ½ of a small onion (chopped)

12.  Salt

13.  Pepper

14.  Onion powder

15.  Garlic powder

16.  Sazon con achiote/anatto

17.  Adobo

18.  Oregano

19.  1 tablespoon of Olives with capers

20.  1 Bay leaves

21.  Plantain leaf (optional)

 

First thing you want to do is rinse out your rice with cool water in a bowl until the water becomes clear. Do not leave you rice sitting in water.

Next, pour your canned gandules into a strainer and rinse under water.

Put your caldero on low to medium heat and add your oil. When the oil becomes hot add your chopped items except the cilantro and culantro.

Add your water, tomato sauce, seasonings to taste, chopped cilantro and culantro, and bay leaf. Stir to mix well.

Add your pork neck bones (or turkey), and gandules.

Let this mix cook on low to medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes so that the flavors combine.

After the 15 minutes, raise your flame to high until its boiling.

Once your mix is boiling, add in your rice and perform your spoon test. If you have to much water, take some out and place to the side for back up. Proceed to perform your spoon test again. If it stands straight up its perfect!

 

Lower your heat to medium high and let your rice cook until all the water has dried.

(Be careful here, if you leave your rice cooking for too long without water it will burn and taste horrible. Just stay close by and watch it.)

Once your water has evaporated, lower the heat to low. Turn your rice folding it over on itself, from bottom rice to the top. (Hopefully that made sense, lol)

Make a little mound with your rice keeping it away from the edges of your caldero. I call it the little volcano and place your platano leaf on top and cover your caldero.

Cook for 10 minutes then stir your rice again in folding motions.

Cook for another 20 minutes or so, until you can see the rice splits down the middle. If you’re blind like me, you can simply do a taste test to see if they are soft. If it’s hard, place the leaf on, cover your caldero and cook for few minutes. You can even add a little bit of the extra water you set aside.

But! If its soft and fluffy, your done!

Serve your Arroz con gandules and enjoy with a ripe aguacate on the side!   

 

 

*pictures aren’t mine* Also, I suck at photography.

 Work Cited

“Arroz Con Gandules.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 09 Apr. 2021. Web. 23 Apr. 2021.

 “Arroz Con Gandules Recipe (Gandule Rice).” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 23 Apr. 2021.

“Article: Do Puerto Ricans Know the Origin of Their Typical Food?” Gastronomy Blog Article Do Puerto Ricans Know the Origin of Their Typical Food Comments. 01 Jan. 1966. Web. 23 Apr. 2021.