Pigeon Peas and Annatto Oil

[HomeCulinarian]

I'm trying a recipe this week called Rice with Pigeon Peas from the Healthy Latin cookbook. It calls for Annatto oil. Have never worked with either pigeon peas or annatto oil. So, maybe after my grocery shopping trip, if I can't find either, we'll have plain or yellow rice with the Chicken in Red Sesame Seed Sauce. Does anyone have experience with either of these ingredients?

Another new recipe for us will be the Winter Pork Stew from the CAH Soups Stews and Chilies cookbook.

Other CAH menus for the week include Chicken Carbonara and the Wild Mushroom Pappardelle. Then going to try a Red Snapper in Crazy Water from my Sugar Busters cookbook.

Good eats this week!

[labradors]

Gack! Sometimes it makes things more difficult when some of these cookbooks decide they MUST translate EVERY word in the title of a recipe or the ingredient list.

It will probably be a LOT easier if you go to the "ethnic" or "Hispanic" aisle of your store and look for gandules (the only times I've ever heard them called "pigeon peas" is if the company that packages them decides to print the rarely used English name for them). They could also be in the canned-vegetable aisle.

As for the oil, annatto is just the English name for achiote, and is the plant whose seed coatings give the characteristic orange-red colour to Muenster cheese, and many other food products. If you cannot find the oil (aceite de achiote), then you should be able to find achiote/annatto seeds or ground achiote/annatto in the spice aisle, then you can either use the ground-up achiote in the recipe (maybe adding a little oil, too) or infuse some achiote into some oil (corn oil, or other vegetable oil without a strong flavour of its own) by cooking it in a saucepan until the oil is a beautiful orange red (if using the seeds, they may be discarded afterwards).

Otherwise, once you're done, enjoy some Arroz con Gandules and forget about the Americanised name

Coming from a cookbook with a name like "Healthy Latin," which sounds as though they may take liberties with authenticity, does the recipe also include some kind of sofrito (even not a pre-packaged one - you may actually make it as part of the recipe, if the ingredients also include green pepper, cilantro, etc.)? Arroz con Gandules is a wonderful dish, and I have Puerto Rican friends who would scream if someone suggested making Arroz con Gandules or Arroz con Pollo ("Rice with Chicken") without sofrito. Some would even wince if the sofrito contained tomatoes (i.e. if it's sofrito criollo]). I'm always wary (and weary) of ethnic cookbooks that either say they are "healthy" versions of recipes that otherwise have long histories and solid traditions behind them. After all, "Raichlen" is NOT "Rodriguez." LOL!

[Lorraine]

I really have to get that book for Gil. I've never used annatto oil, but Gil does have annatto (more like chunks). I've never used pigeon peas either, so I'm really not much help.

[labradors]

One other note about achiote (annatto): another name sometimes used for it is the "lipstick plant," and for good reason - it REALLY stains, so handle it carefully, or we'll catch you red handed, quite literally.

[Mare749]

Depending on where you live, it may be possible that you have a "Goya" section or aisle in your regular grocery stores. There you will find pidgeon peas and annatto oil. Also, just about anything else you might need for making Hispanic foods.

Maryann

[HomeCulinarian]

Quote:

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Gack! Sometimes it makes things more difficult when some of these cookbooks decide they MUST translate EVERY word in the title of a recipe or the ingredient list.

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The book has both names - Arroz con Gandules. I didn't know the other name for the Annatto, so I came home empty on both ingredients. I'll stop by the International grocer tomorrow.

Here's the recipe:

1 T Annatto Oil
1 med onion, finely chopped
1 yellow and/or green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 oz Canadian bacon or serrano ham, thinly sliced
4 culantro leaves chopped, or 2 T chopped fresh cilantro
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 cup cooked pigeon peas
2 1/2 cups water
Salt and pepper

Heat annatto oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, garlic, and bacon. Cook over medium heat for 4 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Stir in the Culantro or cilantro and tomato. Cook for 2 minutes or until the juices have evaporated. Stir in the rice and cook for 1 minute.

Stir in the peas and water. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Remove from the heat, uncover, and drape a clean dish cloth over the pan. Recover the pan with the cloth stil in place and let stand for 3 minutes. Fluff the rice wiht a fork. Correct seasonings.

[labradors]

Sounds like he did a reasonable job with this one, and he does, essentially, have you make a sofrito for it. For comparison, here is a recipe that is typical of what my Puerto Rican friends would use. This is one I found on the Internet, and the notes are part of the recipe, as I found it:

Arroz con Gandules

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rice
  
• 3 cups water or beef stock
  
• 1 can of gandules
  
• 1/3 cup of sofrito (see below)
  
• 2 Tablespoons of tomato sauce
  
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
  
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. In a deep sauce pot, simmer the [/i]sofrito[/i] in the oil for 2 minutes while stirring. (medium heat)
   
2. Add the rest of the ingredients: the gandules (and their broth), tomato sauce, water (or stock), the rice and the seasonings. Stir to completely mix ingredients.
   
3. Cook on high heat until the water evaporates and the surface of the rice is exposed, but not completely dry.
   
4. Lower the heat immediately to "low", and cover.
   
5. Cook, covered, approximately 20 minutes.
   
6. Remove cover, taking care to not let the water that's condensed on the cover drip back into the pot! [This might lead to what is know as arroz mogollado (pronounced moh-go-yao) - soggy rice! The cardinal sin of any good Puerto Rican cook!]
   
7. Using a large serving spoon, carefully mix the rice by taking scoops from the side furthest from you, and gently placing them towards the center of the pot. Then turn the pot 1/4 turn. Repeat 3 times.
   
8. Taste the rice. It should be slightly firm, but not hard. If it's hard, cover and let cook another several minutes and test again. If it's soggy (uh-oh!), cook uncovered several minutes, turn again, test. Repeat if necessary

The following sofrito recipe is from a different site, but accurately represents sofrito as my friends use it. Again, the notes are as I found them. I'll add a few other comments after the recipe.

Sofrito

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds - large green peppers
  
• 1 pound medium-size heads of garlic
  
• 3 pounds - large onions
  
• 1 - bunch of cilantro
  
• 1/2 cup- vegetable oil
  
• 50 - recao leaves
  
• 1 pound- ajís dulces (small sweet cooking peppers)

Instructions:

• Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and chop coarsely. Add in the oil a small amount at a time. Pour this mixture into ice-cube trays and freeze. Anytime you are going to cook some asopao, habichuelas, arroz con gandules, or your own [/i]carne guizada[/i], just throw in 1-2 cubes of sofrito. Add this mixture (to taste) to bean dishes, stews, soups, and anything else you want to spice up.
  
• My variation for arroz con gandules is adding chopped "salt pork" (tocino) and jamón de cocinar (smoked ham) (especially the cueros (skins) from the jamón), and covering the whole caldero (pot) with banana leaves. (You can't beat the flavor.)
  
• Note: In order to skin the garlic cloves easily, separate all cloves and place in warm water overnight or longer and the skins will come right off.

My own notes:

• The page at the link I provided for the sofrito includes some pictures of making this recipe, and also has some other people's variations for sofrito, but this recipe is the one my friends would use.
  
• The recipe at the site contained a couple of misspellings and other errors (e.g. listing oil in the ingredients, and mentioning it with the photos, but saying "water" in the instructions - the oil is what it should be, and my friends would typically use corn oil for this), which I have corrected.
  
• The recao leaves mentioned here are the same thing as the culantro leaves mentioned in your recipe. Puerto Ricans call that plant recao instead of culantro. Here, in Honduras, they call it culantro ancho, whereas they say culantro fino for the regular cilantro found in U.S. supermarkets. Recao is a completely different plant from cilantro, but has a similar (yet stronger) flavour. The same site that has the sofrito recipe also has good information about recao. This site also has some good information, although it does say that culantro is called culantro de pata in Honduras, but I've never heard anyone here say that - it's always culantro ancho or just culantro.
  
• The ajís dulces mentioned are peppers that somewhat resemble habaneros, but are quite mild, Again, the same site has a little more information about ajís dulces, and this site has some really good information.
  
• The instructions in the above Arroz con Gandules recipe are right about what they say about "soggy rice," but they DON'T say that the Puerto Ricans don't usually use a very deep pot, but use a caldero, instead. A caldero is like a wider version of a Dutch oven, and is often made of aluminum. Even though the Puerto Ricans do NOT like soggy rice, the LOVE rice that sticks (without burning, obviously) to the bottom of the pan, so they use the calderos not only for the quantity it cooks, but also to be able to get MORE pegado (they pronounce it pegao), which means "stuck."

[HomeCulinarian]

Thanx, Labs, for the edification! The premise of this particular book is to take traditional Latin recipes and make them healthier. This one is included in the Puerto Rican New Years dinner menu.

This afternoon I'll go to the international grocer to try to find the beans and oil.

[HomeCulinarian]

Success! Got the Gandules and Achiote seeds at the International Grocer. Made a small amount of Annatto Oil and I'm ready to try this dish tomorrow.

Took Hubby with me and we took full advantage of the buy 4 get 5th free of the relishes and pickles. I also picked up some San Marzano tomatoes and some pasta. So what would have been about $3 for the reason to go there in the first place ended up costing about $45.

[labradors]

Quote:

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Success! Got the Gandules and Achiote seeds at the International Grocer. Made a small amount of Annatto Oil and I'm ready to try this dish tomorrow.

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Cool! It's pretty simple, but you'll love it.

It's funny, but a lot of the people here have never even heard of gandules. In fact, I just mentioned this dish to someone today, and he said, "¿Arroz con QUÉ?" ("Rice with WHAT?"). In Puerto Rico, though, they call it their "national food." Thus, even just a short distance across the Caribbean, the dishes AND the ingredients can be quite different.