Puerto Rican "Arroz con Gandulez"

By DreiFromBK

Ingredients

• The recaito:
• 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 small or 1/2 large green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
• 6 aji dulce chiles, seeded and cored, if available
• 6 to 8 sprigs citantro (fresh coriander)
• (1 tablespoon leaves), chopped
• 6 tablespoons annato oil
• The adobo:
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups cooked pigeon peas (from 2/3 cup dried) or 1 16-ounce can, drained
• 2 cups medium-grain white rice
• 4 ounces canned tomato sauce
• 12 pitted green olives, cut in half
• 2 teaspoons capers
• salt to taste

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from prboriken.com

Preparation

Step 1

To prepare the recaito, coarsely chop the onion and pepper. Reserving a bit o each to chop with a knife, put remaining pieces into a food processor with the aji and cilantro. Process to a paste. (This paste is the recaito.) Fine-chop reserved onion and pepper and mix into the recaito. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the recaito and cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Add the adobo ingredients and stir to mix. Stir in pigeon peas, then the rice. Cook, stirring, to coat the rice with oil. Add the tomato sauce, olives, capers, and salt, then 3 cups hot water. Bring to a boil, adjust heat to boil moderately, and cook uncovered, frequently turning the rice up from the bottom, until the surface liquid has disappeared. (cook it uncovered until you can stand a spoon up in it.) Then shape the mixture into a mound. Cover the pot, reduce heat to as low as possible, and cook 1 hour. Remove from heat and let sit, still covered, 10 minutes or longer. (Puerto Rican cooks might make the dish an hour or a few hours ahead of time, then reheat gently before serving.) To serve, spoon onto a serving dish or platter. Then scrape up the pegao, in pieces, and serve in a separate dish