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When New York-based writer and recipe developer Marisel Salazar had to unexpectedly move into a different apartment this year, the first thing she did, even before unpacking, was christen the kitchen by making arroz con gandules. The one-pot Puerto Rican rice and beans dish is a mainstay on the island and throughout the diaspora for holidays, celebrations — and weeknight meals.
“We ate arroz con gandules twice a week when I was growing up,” Salazar, who is Panamanian-Cuban, told me. “I always have a bag of rice and a can of gandules on hand. That first night in the new place, I didn’t even have a can opener!” (Luckily, she was able to borrow one from a neighbor.)
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For chef Andrés-Julian Zuluaga, co-owner and executive chef of Blend 111 in the D.C. area, arroz con gandules was “always” on the table next to the turkey at Thanksgiving and lechón at Christmas. “Usually, during this time of year in the Caribbean, the gandules are super abundant. It’s gandules season.”
“They’re very easy to grow,” Zuluaga notes. “When I was a kid, we had a tree in our backyard in Florida that would sprout an insane amount of beans!” The tropical plant is native to the Indian subcontinent and produces green pods filled with round legumes that are also called (and sold as) pigeon peas, gungo peas, arhar dal and toor dal. They are most commonly sold dried or canned, but can also be found frozen.
Though you can use other beans in this recipe, when I reach Marta Rivera of Sense and Edibility by phone, she’s definitive: “If you don’t use gandules, it’s not arroz con gandules. They add a really specific flavor to the dish, a musky, muted, savory earthiness that’s impossible to replicate. It’s really special.”
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Rivera points out that though it’s a dish that can be simplified for a weeknight dinner — as I’ve done in the recipe below — it’s slyly complex in two ways: “First, you’re building layers. It’s not like making a pot of white rice, it’s more involved. There’s sofrito, there’s pork, there’s the gandules. Second, it’s full of so much flavor. It’s fancy.”
For dinner tonight, we’re going to go simple and rely mostly on pantry staples: white rice, canned gandules (or other beans in a pinch!), canned tomatoes, jarred olives, sofrito (or some chopped onions, bell peppers, garlic and cilantro) and all-purpose sazón. If you keep prepared sofrito and sazón in your fridge and pantry, this recipe will be especially fast to put together. If you don’t, I have suggestions for what to do instead.
Still, it’s a recipe you might want to keep handy as Thanksgiving and December holidays approach. It goes really well with braised or roasted meats and poultry, but can stand on its own as a main course thanks to the peas, which add a good dose of protein. I like it best with a side of sweet, pan-fried plantains. “Here’s what I can tell you for sure,” Rivera says. “If there’s not a big caldero of arroz con gandules on the stove or table, it’s not a party.”
correction
A previous version of this story referred to Marisel Salazar as Panamanian-Puerto Rican. She is Panamanian-Cuban.
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