← Nouns Cooking · Caribbean

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 80 g smoked ham or bacon, diced
• 1 Onion, roughly chopped
• 1 Bell pepper, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 1 handful Coriander (cilantro)
• 2 tbsp Tomato purée (paste)
• 1 tsp Paprika
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric (for colour)
• 1 tsp Dried oregano
• 2 Bay leaves
• 2 tbsp pimiento-stuffed olives, sliced
• 1 can pigeon peas (400 g can), drained and rinsed
• 400 g medium-grain or parboiled rice, rinsed
• 700 ml chicken stock
• 1 tsp Salt

Method

1. Blend the onion, pepper, garlic and coriander into a sofrito.
2. Heat the oil in a wide, heavy pot (a caldero is ideal) over medium heat and fry the ham for 3 min. Add 6 tbsp of the sofrito and cook for 4 min until fragrant. Freeze the rest for another day.
3. Stir in the tomato paste, paprika, turmeric, oregano, bay leaves and olives and cook for 1 minute, then add the pigeon peas.
4. Add the rice and stir to coat it in the sofrito. Pour in the stock with the salt, bring to a boil and boil uncovered until the liquid sinks just below the surface of the rice, about 5 min.
5. Stir once from the bottom, cover tightly with foil and the lid, turn the heat to low and cook for 25 min without lifting the lid.
6. Fluff the rice with a fork. For pegao (the prized crisp layer), leave it on low for 5–10 min more until the bottom crackles.

Tips

• Leave out the ham and use vegetable stock for a vegan version.
• Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour; reheat until piping hot.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

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