Ese Arroz Prieto Con Sofrito (Cuban Purple Jasmine Rice)

PLEASE READ STORY BEFORE TRYING RECIPE OR ELSE YOU MIGHT THINK "WHAT THE HELL"

Okay okay this is NOT an AUTHENTIC and NOT a TRADITIONAL Cuban dish. In fact it's my grandmothers recipe that she made up but is soooo good. It is a fragrant Jasmine Rice mixed with some Black Glutinous Rice cooked in a cuban sofrito with cumin and salt. We have no specific name in my house so it's just "ese arroz prieto con sofrito" which means "That Black Rice with Sofrito (onion,bell pepper, and garlic in lard or olive oil)"

Let me explain, Thai Fragrant Jasmine Rice is a type of rice that smells wonderful, it literaly smells like Jasmine flowers if you get a good quality. It has thin long grains, and is sticky but maintains texture it still has a "bite" to it.

Thai Black Glutinous Rice, is used in Thai cuisine for desserts, and sometimes mixed with white glutinous rice to make a plain purple colored sticky rice dish. The grains of this rice are NATURALLY black, and stains anything it is cooked with purple and if you use to much it will become black.

My family along time ago had a Chinese friend who introduced us to the wonderful Jasmine Rice, my mother loved it and use to buy it all the time afterwards we would use it the way Cubans use regular white rice. When the rice prices doubled my mom went back to "Mahatma" rice (regular long-grain white), but my Filipino friend always ate this wonderful Jasmine Rice that was new crop branded as "Three Ladies" I loved it and convinced my mom to buy it and she fell in love with it again and after eating that, I don't think I'll eat any other type of rice.

Also the Thai Black Glutinous Rice my mother discovered it when she began working for a Chinese lady a couple years ago (she no longer works there) the lady always steamed Jasmine rice with a certain amount of Black Glutinous Rice, to make a "Purple Jasmine Rice"

My mother made some in the house, then one day my grandmother was like, "Parece Moros ese Arroz que curioso" (translates to: it looks like Moors and Christians which is like the national dish of Cuba white rice steamed in black bean broth with black beans) and she said, "Ay que meterle sofrito cubano pa'ver que pasa" (translates to: we gotta put cuban sofrito in it and see what happens)

So my grandmother steamed it mixed with a Cuban sofrito and a little cumin and salt, and we all fell in love with it. It is delicious, it tasted like "Moros" kinda, it was slightly sweet and nutty from the Black Glutinous Rice and fragrant with the Jasmine and in addition it had the familiar smell of a sofrito. Very good. I am glad we have a variety of Asian stores and other ethnic stores and cultures here in Southern California.

Ingredients:
-2 cups white jasmine rice (the best one for me is Three Ladies brand)
-1/2 cup black glutinous rice
-3 cups water
-1 onion finely minced
-1 green bell pepper finely minced
-6 cloves garlic mashed to a paste
-2-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
-2 1/2 teaspoons salt
-1 teaspoon ground cumin

Directions:
(1)Mix white jasmine rice with black glutinous rice, wash well once by swishing while streaming in water until rice pot is full to top then drain.
(2)Add 3 cups of water
(3)Make a sofrito by sauteeing onion and bell pepper in olive oil on medium high for about 5-6 minutes then adding garlic and sauteeing until fragrant.
(4)Stir sofrito into rice pot, add salt and cumin, stir well.
(5)Cover and turn on rice cooker and cook until it beeps and is ready then just fluff it. It makes pairs well with any Cuban dish.

P.S.

You can make this plain without sofrito, cumin, and salt and it will just be regular "Purple Jasmine Rice" which I love to.

I love Jasmine rice lots, it's the plain white rice we eat at the house, every now and then it gets the regular cuban style White Rice which is simply white rice steamed with olive oil and salt and it is heaven to my household.

Of course in no way can the Jasmine rice replace our beloved "Valencia" short-grain variety rices used in our "Arroz Con Pollo" or "Paella" and also "Arroz a la Chorrera"

Sopa de Chicharos (Pea Soup)

This is a very simple split pea soup. I haven't had this soup in about 2 years. I remember it was a cold day and my grandmother made this really simply soup that was delicious, thick, filling, yet sits warm and comfortable in my stomach served along side a nice bowl of hot steaming white rice just out of the rice cooker with the warm soup. Of course it is summer but I felt like making it for dinner. (We always have some legume based dish in my house daily). For a heavier meal you can pair it with a meat dish, and a vegetable side dish. For a very light comforting meal it's good with just rice.

Ingredients:
-3 cups split dry green peas (you may use whole peas but split is what is best for this dish it makes a thicker soup)
-10 cups of water
-1 small medium green bell pepper finely minced
-1 small medium onion finely minced
-4 cloves of garlic mashed to a paste or through a garlic press
-1 teaspoon of ground cumin
-1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (optional)
-salt to taste
-Extra-Virgin olive oil about 1/4 cup or 3 tablespoons

Directions:
(1)Rinse the peas several times through water, put in a pot and add water, bring to a boil on high and simmer on medium low until fully cooked probably around 1 hour.
(2)Make sofrito, heat olive oil on medium high heat, sautee onions and bell pepper for about 5-7 minutes, then add garlic and sautee for about 2 minutes, turn of heat.
(3)Add the "sofrito" to the cooked peas, season with cumin, pepper, and salt. Let it simmer 10-20 minutes together.
(4)Your done :)
NOTE: This basic recipe can be done with ANY TYPE OF LEGUME/ BEAN and still taste good, to make really simple yet delicous bean soups, you can do this with black beans for a more simple version of the Cuban Black Bean Soup, you can do it with red beans but if done with red be sure to use lard instead of olive oil.

The seasoning's used in this soup is one of the most basic ways to season things in Cuban cooking (well my grandmothers style of cooking) it's usually always a very simple sofrito (lard or olive oil, garlic, onion, and bell pepper) then cumin and salt. Those are found in almost all Cuban dishes as a base, then they are build up on with other spices for certain dishes.

Carne Guisada Con Chile y Papas

This is a delicous Mexican dish. I love it. The reason I love it lots is because it has cubed fried potatoes YUM I love potatoes and any starchy veggie and it combines it with flavorful pieces of beef cooked in what I consider a "Mexican sofrito" (chili pepper, onion, and tomato)

Every now and then I am fortunate enough to have my mother share her Mexican recipes and time with me in the kitchen. I try to learn always help her because I discover more about my Mexican heritages food, and even though I am not as knowledgable in the Mexican kitchen as I am in the Cuban I can still defend myself thanks to my mother haha.

Ingredients:
-4 medium potatoes diced into medium cubes
-1 1/2 pounds "Beef for carne asada" cut into little bite sized pieces, good choices would be "Carne Ranchera" which I think is "beef flap meat" or "flank steak" as well as "beef sirloin steak" make sure to ask butcher to cut it thin like 1/4 inch thick. Any type of quick cooking tender cut of beef will do.
-1 medium onion minced
-2 large tomatoes diced
-1 serrano or jalapeño green chili pepper minced (if you can't get it where you live any small or medium sized spicy green colored chili will do the job)
-2-6 cloves of garlic minced (it depends how much you like garlic in my house we used 4 for this)
-1/2 a bunch of cilantro washed, stems removed and minced
-salt and pepper or your favorite steak seasoning (my mother uses for Mexican cooking a meat seasoner called "Chef Merito" steak seasoning that comes in a redish bottle. It's a blend of salt, sugar, oregano, cumin, star anise, paprika, monosodium glutamine, onion powder, and garlic powder)
-oil to deep-fry potatoes and cook meat dish
Directions:
(1)Heat alot of oil in a large frying pan, enough to pan-fry or deep-fry the cubed potatoes on medium high heat. Add the potatoes and let them fry until golden and cooked. This takes like 20 minutes so I would do all my prep work during this.
(2)Now take potatoes out, drain, put on a plate with napkins to soak excess oil and set aside.
(3)Pour some of the oil out and leave enough to cook rest of dish. Season the meat with salt and pepper or steak seasoning. Mix well. Now add in one layer and don't touch it let it brown on high heat, now when it starts releasing it's juices, drain some of them out and set it aside (about 1/2-1 cup of it) now stir and wait until the juices evaporate this will intensify the flavor.
(4)Add minced onions and chili pepper cook until onions are translucent, add garlic and cook until garlic is fragrant, now add tomato and cook until tomato cooks down a bit and releases juices.
(5)At this point add fried cubed potatoes, fold in well while adding the juices you set aside that the meat released during cooking so the potatoes can soak some of the flavor, now fold in cilantro gently. Your done very simple and delicious.

Oh on seperate notice, let's move on to the AWARDS. Nuria from "Spanish Recipes" awarded me with the "I Heart You Blog" Award. I feel so good inside, I am glad that I am able to share what I love to cook and that others enjoy it thank you Nuria and anyone who enjoys my recipes and stories.


"The rules are as follow:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you (as shown above).
3) Nominate at least seven other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.So the ones that I am choosing are the ones that I read all of the time and have actually become "friends" with most of them.

And the blogs I Do Love are:"
(1)Pilar Lechuza's blog called "La Cocina de Lechuza" a blog that focuses on home style traditional Galician food all the way from Galicia, Spain. If it wasn't for that blog I would have never been motivated to start trying to make "Empanadas and Empanadillas" she is the Queen of Galician Empanadas and Empanadillas (types of meat pies)

(2)Nuria's blog called "Spanish Recipes" she cooks all sorts of Spanish food that she enjoys and I love the personality projected on the blog, she is another great Spanish cook. This is Spanish cooking all the way from Barcelona.

(3)Marilyn and her blog "My Cuban Traumas" this is Cuban food, from a Cubana living in California just like me except she is in Northern California and I am in Southern. She is really good at making desserts, makes some tastey Cuban food to and comes up with interesting twists. I am so grateful to her for sharing her "Cuban Empanada" dough recipe with me and I will be sure to make some "Cuban Empanadas" from scratch thanks to her sometime this moth or in early October.

(4)"Maangchi's Korean Cooking Blog" well the title is self explanitory. Maangchi makes Korean cooking videos. She has categories in her blog with description of ingredients and she makes her recipes as traditional as possible and from what she has learned from her family (I think grandmother) I highly suggest you check it out.

(5)Connie Veneracion a home cook who cooks for her family from "Pinoy Cook" I've never commented her blog (to be honest), but I always lurk around, she cooks a variety of stuff her main focus is Filipino food. She is not afraid to experiment and add her own twists if she feels they are needed and she is very honest about it to which I love.

(6)I also enjoy reading "My Big Fat Cuban American Family" a blog directed by Marta a Cuban American she is the cook for "Babalublog" a Cuban American blog about politics regarding Cubans. She always has interesting post, some food related, others family, and just about her life. She is also a Cuban living in California (Southern Cali). I love reading her stories full of joy and family as well as some of her cooking. I have to admit she makes one of the best Cuban "Fricassee de Pollo" I have my family recipe for it to, but I cannot compare them they are both distinct, hers is what is expected from a Cuban Fricasse it is sweet and sour and very well balanced. My families is very savory and shows some Chinese influence (I will leave that for another recipe post)

(7)Lastly I really truly wish this his blog would post recipes more frequently, his content is really high quality, he enjoys Cuban food as well and makes the BEST "Arroz Con Pollo" I have ever had, I learned my "Arroz Con Pollo" from Jose. He is a Cuban foodie from California's bay area. His blog is called "Arroz y Frijoles" probably because it's a Cuban staple (rice and beans)

(8)Another blog that I wish had more posts because I enjoy the one's they post is called "Cuban Home Cooking Keeping the Tradition Alive" they post once a month a Cuban recipe, the cool thing it's Cuban recipes from friends and family that are Cuban so it's nice to see other Cubans takes on certain dishes and so far many of the dishes have been made by the older generation of Cubans that are good cooks most of the time.