Photo: Pigeon Pea Rice "Arroz de Gandules" Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried pigeon peas, picked through and rinsed
- 3 bay leaves
- 5 unpeeled garlic cloves, plus 2 cloves, minced
- 3 quarts water
- 1/4 cup achiote oil, recipe follows
- 1 medium white onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, cored and diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 cups long-grain rice
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 lime, juiced
Directions
Put the pigeon peas, bay leaves, and garlic in a large pot, cover with 3 quarts of cold water, and place over medium heat. Cover and cook the beans until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Check the water periodically; add more, if necessary, to keep the peas covered. Drain the pigeon peas and reserve 4 cups of the cooking liquid.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Coat a large Dutch oven or other ovenproof pot with the achiote oil and place over medium heat. When the oil begins to smoke, add the onion, minced garlic, and peppers. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes, until the vegetables have softened, without letting them brown. Stir in the cumin, coriander, and cayenne. Mix in the rice and stir. Add the reserved pigeon peas cooking liquid and stir. Add the peas, salt and lime juice. Top with a lid and place into the oven. Continue to cook until the liquid is evaporated, about 20 to 30 minutes, until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed.
Achiote Oil (aceite de achiote):
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons achiote/annatto seeds
To make the achiote oil, pour the oil and achiote seeds in a pot or skillet. Cook over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes; the oil will be reddish-orange from the achiote. Strain the oil and discard the achiote seeds.
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By LeoChef
Central New Jersey
on March 18, 2011
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Please, Please Please. Do not use this recipe. Arroz Gandules is a wonderful dish and this is not it. Try El Boricua's or Daisy Martinez's website. I attempted this 1 year ago for Thanksgiving and was totally disappointed with the result. I had to trash the entire thing at the last minute and sub something else.
By rican813
on March 06, 2011
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THAT IS NOT THE WAY U COOK IT!!!!!!!!!! I DONT KNOW WERE THEY GOT THAT PIC FROM IT LOOK LIKE RICE WITH CORN PLZ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! U NEED TO ASK A BORICUA HOW TO MAKE SO ASK ME ANYTIME I WILL HELP U OUT
By Paphotogirl
Strasburg, PA
on January 15, 2011
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Awesome, with a few changes by necessity. First of all, even in my Hispanic food section, I couldn't find annato seeds. So I bought Goya's Sazon with Achiote and used that to flavor and color the oil-- now I know the secret of the Mexican restaurants that serve the delicious rice!
Also, couldn't find dried Pigeon Peas, so I used canned (Jamaican, actually, reserved the juice, measured it out, and filled the rest of the standard 4 cups of liquid necessary to cook the rice with water.
Also, since this cooks at a considerably different temperature than the Pernil, I decided to cook it on the range top instead of in the oven. I just followed the standard BTB, RTS (bring to boil, reduce to simmer for 15-20 minutes on very low heat and it worked beautifully. Hubby loved!
Read all 22 reviews