Photo of Arroz con Gandules by WW

Arroz con Gandules

4
Points® value
Total Time
1 hr 5 min
Prep
15 min
Cook
40 min
Serves
12
Difficulty
Easy
This hearty side, the national dish of Puerto Rico, gets lots of savory flavour from sofrito, which you can find with the Latin or Hispanic foods in your grocery store). Traditionally, the dish incorporates salt pork or bacon, but we opt for leaner diced ham instead. The pigeon peas are also traditional, and you’ll find them, too, on the global foods aisle. If you can’t find them, you can substitute pink beans, small red beans, or black-eyed peas.

Ingredients

Cooking spray

4 spray(s)

Cooked ham

½ cup(s), cubed

Sofrito sauce

¼ cup(s)

Ground cumin

1 tsp(s)

Kosher salt

½ tsp(s)

No salt added canned tomato sauce

8 oz

Ground coriander

5 gm

Canned green peas

15 oz, pigeon pea variety, rinsed and drained

Uncooked long grain white rice

2 cup(s), or medium-grain white rice

Pimiento stuffed olives

8 olive(s)

Instructions

  1. Coat a Dutch oven with cooking spray. Heat the pan over medium heat. Add the ham; cook until the ham just starts to brown, about 3 minutes. Stir in 2 cups water, sofrito, cumin, salt, tomato sauce, coriander, and peas. Bring the mixture to a boil.
  2. Place the rice in a fine mesh strainer; rinse under cool water for 30 seconds. Stir the rice and olives into the liquid; return to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice mixture with a fork before serving.
  3. Serving size: about ⅔ cup