Gandule Rice and Pastele Stew go together like bread and butter but I don’t know how to make pastele and I don’t think I would ever have the ingredients or patience to make it. I’ll leave that to the pros. But one week, we were having Hispanic foods for a party so I decided to try my hand at making gandule rice. I found a recipe online and tried it out…and oh boy, did it turn out well! Full credit goes to Keeping it Relle, she made the recipe look so easy that I made it! The funniest thing is, I didn’t realize one of my students was Puerto Rican so I was a bit nervous for her to try it but she liked it a lot! She gave me some tips for the future which includes using long grain rice instead. I would definitely make this again!

Annatto Seeds

Have you used this before? Before this recipe, I had never heard of it but I must have been crazy to want to make my own annatto oil but here I am.

I followed the instructions on the package, it’s so fast! And you get this deep red oil from it. Definitely helps add color to the dish.

Annatto oil ready to go for the dish…

Half pack of bacon sizzling away…

Add the pork shoulder…

Add your veggies and herbs…rice and broth and ready to cook! My rice cooker wasn’t big enough so I cooked this in my wok on the stove top. Worked perfectly fine! It takes about 30 minutes to cook through.

Gandule Rice

• 3 cups uncooked white rice
• 1 tablespoon achiote oil (annatto oil)
• ½ pound bacon
• ½ pound pork tenderloin sliced into thin, short, narrow strips
• 4 cloves garlic finely minced
• ½ green bell pepper diced
• 1 small onion diced
• 1 bunch cilantro finely chopped
• 5 stalks green onion thinly sliced
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 packets Sazon Goya
• 1 can 8 ounces tomato sauce
• 1 can 15 ounces gandules verdes, drained
• 1 can 6 ounces pitted black olives, drained

Instructions 

• Rinse rice in cool running water until water runs clear. Drain and set aside.
• Set a large pan over medium high heat. Add achiote oil, bacon, and pork. Cook until browned, about 5-10 minutes.
• Next add garlic, bell pepper, and onion. Cook until fragrant and the onions become translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
• Then add cilantro and green onion. Stir to combine and heat through. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• Pour drained rice into the rice cooker (gotta be at least 10 cup rice cooker). Add chicken broth, Sazon Goya packets, tomato sauce, gandule beans, and olives.
• Strain oil from pork mixture and discard. Add pork to the rice pot. Stir until well combined. 
• Set the rice cooker to cook. Once the rice cooker has finished, open and fluff the rice by stirring with a fork.

Full Recipe Credit: Keeping it Relle