Carmen’s
Arroz Con Gandules
To Carmen, arroz con gandules, or rice with pigeon peas, serves an indelible link to her Puerto Rican heritage—one that cannot be separated from life as she knows it.
Her childhood was spent bouncing back and forth between Puerto Rico, New York, and Boston depending on the callings of her mother’s job; as a result, Carmen grew up in multicultural and multilingual environments. But arroz con gandules proved to be a steady constant.
“I’ve been eating this dish since I was a kid,” she said. “It’s a traditional dish that we do for Christmas, parties, holidays…it’s always there, and it’s been around forever.
For a proper holiday spread, Carmen serves a holy trinity of dishes: arroz con gandules, of course, as well as pulled pork (also known as pernil) and pasteles de masa, which she named as her childrens’ favorite. At parties, she pairs the rice with chicken instead. “It’s vegetarian,” she explained, “so anyone who wants to eat it can do so.”
Above all, arroz con gandules reminds Carmen of her father. “When my father made it, it tasted, I don’t know, out-of this world outstanding,” she reminisced.
Before the tradition became less widespread, she explained, her father would slaughter a whole pig, then make the rice with all the traditional Christmas accompaniments. “He was mostly the cook of the house, even though he worked a full-time job,” Carmen said.
Yet Carmen was never formally taught the recipe for this comfort food, never cooked it with her parents; her mother simply gave her the necessary information, advising her to add or remove ingredients as she saw fit.
At the age of sixteen, she began to cook the dish on her own.
“I perfected it all by myself,” she confided. “It’s the same thing but everybody makes it different. Everyone has their own twist to it.”
Her own unique change? The addition of ham.
Just as her mother passed this arroz con gandules recipe on to her, so too did Carmen impart her culinary knowledge to her six children.
“It was very, very important to teach them how to make it,” she said, “because I want them to keep their traditions and their heritage as Puerto Ricans. ”
“You can’t forget where you came from.”
INGREDIENTS
1 large red pepper
1 large white onion
1 garlic head
1 package of recao (Carmen says you can find it on America’s Food Basket) or fresh cilantro.
2 cups of long grain rice
3 cups of water
1 can of Goya tomato sauce
1 package of sazón seasoning
Salt (to your taste)
4 tablespoons of oil (any kind)
“When you get good enough, like my son, you don’t have to use measurements and it’ll still turn out perfect.”
let’s cook!
The recipe below is basic by design; you might like to add ham, like Carmen does, or create your own new spin on this classic dish.
Chop pepper, onion, garlic and recao. Make a paste. You can use a blender, but do not liquify. This is your sofrito, a key flavor component in many PR dishes.“Without sofrito, this dish is nothing,” Carmen says.
To a rice pot set on stove at medium heat, add 2 large tablespoons of sofrito.
Add 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce and your sazón package mix, then add the water and salt.
Set heat at medium high and wait until water boils.
Once water boils, add rice and oil.
Mix and let the water evaporate.
Once the water is gone, turn the heat to low and mix. Cover for 30 mins.
Uncover, mix, and cover for another 10 min.
Now you’re ready to enjoy your arroz con gandules!