MAMPOSTEAO: PUERTO RICAN RICE, SOFRITO AND BEANS

Ingredients

Arroz Mamposteao

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 ripe tomatoes, so finely diced they're almost sauce-like
• 1/4 cup sofrito (see below)
• 1 1/2 cups short-grain rice, pre-cooked
• 1 X oz can cooked red kidney beans
• 1 teaspoon capers
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 tablespoons sherry or white wine
• 1/2 cup water
• 2-3 sprigs of fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish

Sofrito (makes ~2 cups)

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 large red onion, cut into chunks
• 4-5 small sweet bell peppers (otherwise known as ajies dulces)
• 1 large red bell pepper
• 3 ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon capers
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

How to Make

Stage 1 - Prepare the Sofrito

1. Take all your ingredients for the sofrito into a food processor and blitz your ingredients finely together. You want to process everything into the consistency of a sauce
2. Next, heat a wok or a saucepan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, pour your sofrito in and begin to stir around for 1 minute
3. After a minute, reduce the heat to medium-low and let the sofrito cook for ~10 minutes. If you're not using pre-cooked rice, this would be a good time to boil and prepare your rice
4. When the 10 minutes are up, pour the sofrito into a bowl and keep close by. Now it's onto the main event

Stage 2 - Making the Arroz Mamposteao

1. In the same saucepan from where your sofrito just came, add your two tablespoons of olive oil and increase the heat of the stove to medium-high
2. When the oil is nice and hot, add your finely diced tomatoes and stir around for ~30 seconds
3. Once your tomatoes start to cook, add in 1/4 cup of the sofrito back into the saucepan. Mix the sofrito in well with the tomatoes for ~1 minute
4. Next, add your rice and your beans together and mix the tomato and sofrito sauce well through. The rice will start to take on a slightly reddish hue as it gets coated with sauce. From here, let the rice and beans simmer for 1 minute1 before moving on
5. Add in your bell pepper, capers, white wine and water into the saucepan. Reduce the heat on your stove to medium and let the mamposteao cook for 4-5 minutes as you stir occasionally to loosen the ingredients up
6. Finally, take your pan off the heat and transfer your arroz mamposteao to your serving dish. Add your cilantro and toss around, and enjoy!