Arroz Con Gandules

This recipe was submitted by Yasmin Hernandez to cooks.com. I went to Colombia and was inspired by the rice dishes. They have lots of wonderful rice dishes many of which have a real paella vibe to them. Since returning home I have tried several one pot rice dishes not all of them from Colombia. This one is Puerto Rican and it's very good. 

I imagine that other people have figured this out before me, but I felt some pride at substituting brown rice successfully. To use brown rice instead of white rice, cook the rice for about half the time (20-25 mins) prior to putting it in the recipe. Since you have already used the 5 cups of water for the rice, you must add at least 1 cup and up to 2 cups when you put the rice into the dish to finish cooking. 

2 1/2 cups long grain white rice
5 cups water
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons sofrito (jarred or make your own by dicing onion, bell pepper (any kind), garlic, cilantro and tomato)
1/4 cup chopped bacon
1/4 cup chopped ham or sausage
2 tablespoons spanish olives
1 can green or dry pigeon beans, drained
1 envelope sazon with annato
1/2 teaspoon ground oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon tomato paste
salt and black pepper to taste

Start by heating the oil in a pot at high heat, and when the oil is nice and hot, add the bacon. When the bacon is cooked but not crisp, add the ham/sausage. Once that has browned, add the Sofrito. This must stir fry all together for about 1 minute.

After that has been done add the water, then the peas, the olives, the tomato paste, and all the spices, including the envelope of sazon.

At that point, add salt and pepper to taste. Bring this up to a boil then stir in rice.

Once it has began to boil again, lower heat and stir 1 more time, then cover. Let this cook for about 30 - 40 minutes on a low heat setting, stirring occasionally (every 10 minutes) until the rice is tender. Serve.