Cookin’ with Venus
Issue #23
Ani Cordero whips up a Puerto Rican treat for your tastebuds
By Venus Zine Staff
Published: March 1st, 2005 | 4:49pm
Ani Cordero is a triple threat. As the frontwoman of the bilingual indie-Latin band Cordero, she sings and plays guitar; she’s also the drummer for Bee and Flower. If her musical skills weren’t enough, the Brooklynite also happens to know her way around the kitchen — as she proves by sharing this Puerto Rican recipe. Serve it with fried plantains for an unbeatably delicious dinner.
Vegetarian Asopao de Gandules
(My grandma Ana Teresa's recipe, modified to be vegetarian)
Ingredients:
1 can pigeon peas (gandules)
7 cups water
1 1/2 cups rice
3 tablespoons achiote coloring
1 1/2 tablespoons whole dried oregano, crushed with a mortar and pestle
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 green pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
6 fresh culantro leaves (also called recao, it’s different from cilantro)
1 chopped tomato
2 tablespoons olive oil
10-15 pimento-stuffed olives
1 teaspoon stuffed capers
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1 tablespoon salt
1 big pot
1 heavy kettle
Instructions:
Drain can of gandules, saving the water. Soak rice in the water from the gandules added to the 7 cups of water. Set aside for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, in a heavy kettle (caldero) saute the onions, garlic, oregano, pepper, salt and achiote in the olive oil. If you can't find recao/culantro or achiote where you live, you can probably get Sazon Goya, which is an instant flavoring packet for beans.
Add the capers, tomato sauce, olives, and salt and mix it up.
Drain the water from the rice (saving the water) and add the rice to the mix.
Boil the reserved water and add the mixture to the boiling water, cooking over moderate heat, uncovered for 20 minutes.
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