| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 20 min |
| Prep: | 25 min |
| Cook: | 55 min |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 8 strips bacon, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro leaves
- 2 cups long-grain white rice
- 1 (10-ounce) can chopped tomatoes and green chiles
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Pinch achiote powder, optional
- 1 (15-ounce) can green pigeon peas (gandules), rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups water
- Chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish
Instructions
- Place a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil and bacon. Fry, stirring, until the bacon is crisp. Add the onion and cilantro. Continue to cook for 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Add the rice, tomatoes, oregano, cumin, salt, achiote, and pigeon peas. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes until the rice is opaque. Stir in the tomato paste and water and bring to boil. When all the water is absorbed, cover tightly and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes until tender. Serve on a decorative platter and garnish with cilantro.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 383 |
| Total Fat | 13 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 54 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 3 g |
| Protein | 11 g |
| Cholesterol | 19 mg |
| Sodium | 651 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 383 |
| Total Fat | 13 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 54 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 3 g |
| Protein | 11 g |
| Cholesterol | 19 mg |
| Sodium | 651 mg |
Reviews
I love this recipe. Sometimes I use roast pork butte, sometimes bacon, or ham. Always delicious. I first ate pigeon peas in Bimini when I was a child. Later, Mom made a similar recipe to this one at home.
Tried something new and this won.
The dish was yummy! I didn’t have diced tomatoes with green chiles, but had one from Rotel with lime and cilantro. Worked just fine.
The dish was yummy! I didn’t have diced tomatoes with green chiles, but had one from Rotel with lime and cilantro. Worked just fine.
love it.
It sux,to much water,and the previous comment is right on it don’t used the tomatoes very disappointing,next time I do it the real Puerto Rican way
Puerto Ricans do NOT use canned tomatoes or any type of chilies with our rice. This is not edible in our opinion.
Also, if the rice ends up mushy or what we call “amogollado”, it’s because the pot has too much liquid. You always want to use one extra half a cup of water per total cups of rice (for example: for 3 cups of rice, pour in 3 1/2 cups of water). Make sure to stir the rice periodically as well so that it breathes.
In addition, instead of bacon, just use smoked cooking ham. Fry it in the vegetable oil first, and then sautee the onions, and then proceed with the rest.
This recipe is abismal.
I was a little relieved to read that others ended up with mushy rice too! I haven’t had the best of luck with cooking rice aside from white and brown and I was almost ready to give up cooking rice period. This was my second attempt at using this recipe and this time around I used 3 cups instead of the 4 and it was still too much. I think for my next attempt I will use 1 cup. Yes, it was that mushy. Aside from this, it was a good recipe. Good flavor.
i use sofrito and recaito frozen goys products as well as achiote in pkg.i boil water first in seperate pot and then add slowly til just over top.comes out perfect.1 jar olives with pimiento and half jar capers also.good luck.spanish rice is hard to make perfect.but mine is yummy even when a little mushy
Do not use bacon, tomatoes, chilies, and tomato paste… just add like half cup of cooking ham or pork. If you use pork, fry it a little with some oil, then add the onions and cilantro with the pork. Leave it a few minutes and then continue with the recipe.
Always that you do rice, the water should not exceed 1/4 inch over the rice. In this recipe, you can add the gandules to the onions, pork, & cilantro. Fried like for 1-2 minutes then add the rice. Friend together a like 2-3 minutes. When adding the wate,r do it slowly. Check the amount. If you put too much water over the rice, it will be like a paste.
Add like 10 green olives and like 1/2 tablespoon of capers (drain them well. You can also add some pimento. For some ideas, look in the label of the Goya’s pigeon peas can,
Too much liquid. It turned into mush. What a waste.
Great flavors! Followed others advice and added Goya sofrito but maybe I did something worng with the flame size but I think the recipe calls for too much liquid – will try 1.5 cups of liquid/1 cup rice from now on. The rice was too mushy for me.