Side Dishes

Contributed by: Evelyn Z Aviles-Davis , Waubonsee Staff/Faculty

History of Recipe: The Arroz Con Gandules is made in Puerto Rico mainly over Christmas, Thanksgiving and Dia de Reyes with fresh gandules from our backyards, but you can buy a can of gandules at the store and have this delicious dish at any time. I like this website, http://www.elboricua.com/recipes.html, although I made some changes to reflect on how I make it. You can eat as a main dish or a side dish, for lunch and dinner.

prep time: 5-10 minutes

cook time: 25 minutes

serves: 8 servings

Things You Need

• 2 cups of grain rice (rinsed)

• 4 to 5 cups of hot water, or beef, chicken or vegetables broth- appx.

• ½ cup sofrito* (recipe included after cooking instructions)

• 16 ounce can of gandules (pigeon peas)

• 8-10 stuffed olives cut in halves

• 1 packet of Sazon with achiote

• 1 can tomato sauce

• 3 tablespoons of oil

• Salt & pepper to taste

Here’s How

1. In a medium size caldero (4 quart cooking pan) add the oil, tomato sauce, olives, sofrito and sazon. Cook over medium heat for 4 minutes.

2. Add all other ingredients, and enough water to cover the rice 1" above the rice line. Start with 1 teaspoon of salt stir and keep adding and mixing well until you are satisfied with the taste.

3. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat until most of the water is absorbed. Once the water has been absorbed, stir gently from bottom to top - once or twice only, cover and turn the heat down to low. Cook for 30 minutes or until the rice is tender.

4. Stirring the rice after it has begun cooking may cause it go get sticky or "amogollao."

5. Any rice that sticks to the bottom of the pot is called "pegao" and is crispy and tasty and a favorite of all true Puerto Ricans.

*Sofrito

1 large yellow onion

1 pimiento (Cubanelle) or substitute with green bell pepper

1 medium head of garlic (2 tbsp. minced garlic)

1 bunch of cilantro

12 ajíes dulces (sweet peppers) (hard to find and may skip) (Optional)

6 leaves of recao - (Eryngium) (hard to find/skip)

¼ cup Spanish olives pitted (Optional)

Wash, peel, seed and coarsely chop everything. Put in a blender and pureé. Store in a glass jar covered in the refrigerator for later use. Freeze it in ice-cube trays and dump the frozen cubes in a freezer bag.

Cubanelle peppers are the typical pepper used in the island - it is a sweet Italian pepper and not easily found everywhere. The word sofrito comes from Italian immigrants to Puerto Rico - it means the same thing except their sofrito uses a few different ingredients and they don't use it as often as we do.

Helpful Notes

1. To make great pegao make sure to use plenty of oil. Cook for about 10 minutes longer so the pegao gets crispy and keep your eye on it. Each time you cook rice - check to see how long it takes to make pegao just the way your family likes it. Finally - if you want a lot of pegao - use a bigger caldero (pan) which, of course, will have a larger bottom surface.

2. Stirring the rice after it has begun cooking may cause it go get sticky or "amogollao."

Contributed by: Rodney Lopez, Waubonsee Staff/Faculty

History of Recipe: This is a family recipe from the Chavez side of my family. Maria Chavez, Maternal grandmother, who lived on a ranch near the city of Fresnillo in the state of Zacatecas in the country of Mexico. She was the daughter of a military officer and grew up in poverty with many siblings and never attended any type of formal school. She recently passed away at the age of 92. The recipe is special because she made it for 6 generations of our family and everyone still looks forward to it.

prep time: 15 minutes

cook time: 25-30 minutes

serves: 10 servings

Things You Need

2 Tbls of olive oil

2 Cups long-grain white rice

1/4 cp onion-diced

4 oz tomato sauce

4 cups of water

4 tsps Chicken Bouillon Powder (I prefer Knorr)

Here’s How

1.)In a 10” frying pan add olive oil. After oil is warm add rice, brown for about 5 minutes, add onion till golden brown.

2.) Add tomato sauce and water. Add the bouillon.

3.) When it’s boiling, cover and simmer for 25 minutes. The liquid will be gone and it should be done.

Helpful Notes

Cook for the people you love!

Here is the link to the cooking demo of this recipe: https://guides.library.waubonsee.edu/latinxheritage2020/videosandmore or it can be found in the video demos tab at the top of this page.

Contributed by: Tim Bizoukas, Waubonsee Staff/Faculty

History of Recipe:

prep time: 5 minutes

cook time: 40 minutes

serves: 6-8 servings

Things You Need

1 large, chopped onion

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 cup cooking oil

1 cup raw rice

1 16 oz. can of tomatoes

1 Tbsp. margarine or butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Here’s How

1. Sauté onion and bell pepper in margarine or butter until tender.

2. Add tomatoes.

3. In a separate pan cover rice with cooking oil and fry rice until a few grains of rice turn brown or float to the top.

4. Drain and add rice to the tomato mixture.

5. Cover and cook on very low heat (simmer) until tomatoes are absorbed by the rice.

Helpful Notes

Contributed by: Unknown, Waubonsee Student

History of Recipe: Papas Arrugadas means wrinkled potato. This dish was traditionally prepared with seawater, but nowadays, the water is usually just heavily salted. This recipe orginates from the Canary Islands in Spain. The dish is found in most traditional restaurants, and it is typically served as an accompaniment to hearty stews, though the potatoes can be served on their own as a simple and filling snack. Usually, the potatoes will come drizzled with mojo verde or mojo rojo (picon)—two typical Canarias sauces. This recipe can be found at: https://www.thespruceeats.com/wrinkled-potatoes-recipe-papas-arrugadas-3083528 and https://www.thespruceeats.com/red-pepper-sauce-recipe-3083522

prep time: 20 minutes

cook time: 15 minutes

serves: 6 servings

Things You Need

For Papas Arrugadas

• 2 1/2 lbs. (1.25 kg) small potatoes

• 2 tbsp. coarse sea salt

For Mojo Picon

• 4 dried red peppers (bell or any other non-spicy red pepper)

• 3 to 4 cloves garlic (peeled)

• 1 to 2 slices bread (stale white, crusts trimmed if very dry)

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

• 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

• 1 cup extra-virgin Spanish olive oil

• 1/4 cup (approximately) water (or chicken broth)

• Spanish sherry vinegar (to taste)

Here’s How

1. Wash any dirt off the potatoes and remove “eyes,” if any. Place the potatoes in a large pot and add water to just cover; add the salt.

2. Boil potatoes for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked. While the potatoes are coooking, soak the dried red bell peppers in a bowl or pan of warm water for 10 to 15 minutes to soften and rehydrate them. After soaking, drain water and remove the stems.

3. Remove the potatoes from heat and pour off the water. Return pot with potatoes to the stove, letting the steam evaporate. You should see a layer of salt form on the dry skins.

4. Slice the garlic cloves. Break bread into quarters and set aside.

5. Process the peppers, cumin, garlic slices, hot pepper flakes and salt in a food processor or blender to create a paste. While blending, drizzle in olive oil gradually. Alternately add small pieces of the bread and small amounts of water or broth until the sauce is thick, but not as thick as a paste. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of vinegar or more, according to your taste.

6. If you will not use the sauce the same day, store in a glass jar, (such as the jars made for canning), then cover the sauce with olive oil, seal tightly and refrigerate.

7. Serve the potatoes hot with the red pepper sauce - mojo picon or a cilantro green sauce - mojo cilantro on the side.

Helpful Notes

The dish is best prepared with two potato varieties found on the Canary Islands, papas negra and papas bonita.