Arroz con gandules

Fry the ham and sofrito

Heat the annatto oil in a wide, heavy 5-quart pot (a caldero) over medium heat. Fry the ham for about 3 minutes until lightly browned, then stir in the sofrito and cook 3 minutes more until fragrant.

• 3 tbsp annatto oil
• 150 g smoked ham
• 4 tbsp sofrito

✅ C'est prêt quand : ham lightly browned and sofrito smells fragrant

Add the seasonings

Stir in the tomato sauce, olives, capers, cumin and oregano and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often.

• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 10 olives
• 1 tbsp capers
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano

✅ C'est prêt quand : mixture looks slightly thickened and glossy

Add the pigeon peas and stock

Add the pigeon peas with their liquid, the stock and the salt and bring to a boil over high heat. The liquid should sit about 1 cm above the level of the rice once it's added; add a little more stock if it looks short.

• 1 can (400 g) pigeon peas with liquid
• about 700 ml chicken stock
• 1½ tsp salt

✅ C'est prêt quand : liquid is boiling and covers the rice level by about 1 cm

Add the rice

Stir in the rice and boil, uncovered, over medium-high heat until most of the liquid is absorbed and small holes appear on the surface, about 8 minutes.

• 500 g rice

✅ C'est prêt quand : most liquid absorbed, small holes visible on the surface

Steam

Fold the rice over once from the bottom to the top, cover the pot with the banana leaf or foil and then the lid, turn the heat to the lowest setting, and cook 25 minutes without stirring or lifting the lid.

• 1 banana leaf or foil

✅ C'est prêt quand : rice is tender and a crisp golden crust (pegao) has formed on the bottom

Serve

Fluff the rice gently with a fork and serve warm, scraping up the crispy pegao from the bottom of the pot. It's the classic partner for pernil.