Sofrito
The Soul of Puerto Rican Cooking: Sofrito
No ingredient is more central to Puerto Rican cuisine than sofrito. This fragrant green paste — blended from culantro, recao, ají dulce peppers, garlic, onion, and tomatoes — is the first thing to hit the hot oil in nearly every dish. The smell of sofrito hitting a hot caldero is the smell of home to every Puerto Rican.
Sofrito is not a recipe, it is an inheritance. Every family has its own proportions, its own secret additions — a handful of culantro from the backyard garden, a specific variety of ají dulce grown by an abuela. Jars of homemade sofrito are carried on planes to the diaspora, shared at family gatherings, and guarded like heirlooms. You can buy commercial versions, but the real thing comes from someone's kitchen, blended by hand.
Ingredients
- 1 tbs annatto seeds
- 1 large green pepper, stemmed and seeded
- 1 large red pepper, stemmed and seeded
- 12 sweet peppers, stemmed and seeded
- 2 tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks
- 2 medium onions, peeled
- 1 head of garlic, peeled
- 1 bunch of cilantro leaves
- 1 bunch of culantrillo leaves
- 1 tbsp oregano
- Salt
Directions
Place all ingredients on food processor and mix until coarsely chopped. Season to taste with salt.
Place in container or freeze in cube tray to freeze in portions.
My Favorite Recipe Book
Find recipes like this and more in the recipe book Puerto Rican Cookery by Carmen Aboy Valldejuli. My mother gave me this recipe book on my 18th birthday and it has been my staple recipe book ever since.
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