Locrio de Longaniza

Ingredients

• 600 g longaniza, in thick slices
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 3 culantro leaves
• 1½ tsp dried oregano
• 500 g long grain rice, rinsed
• 800 ml water or stock
• 1½ tsp salt, to taste
• 1 lime, in wedges

Method

1. Render the longaniza slowly

   Start the longaniza in a barely oiled cold caldero over medium heat and let it release its fat for ten minutes. That orange fat is the cooking medium and the seasoning; hot-panning it wastes both.

   10 min

2. Sugar into the sausage fat

   Lift out the longaniza, add the sugar to the fat and let it darken. Keep the heat moderate — sausage fat is already hot and the sugar catches faster than in oil alone.

   3 min

3. Sofrito

   Cook the onion, pepper, garlic, tomato purée, culantro and oregano until soft.

   7 min

4. Rice, then liquid

   Stir the rice through the fat, return the longaniza, add the water and salt and taste the liquid now. It should be slightly saltier than you want the finished rice — this is the only chance you get.

5. Down, cover, low

   Boil uncovered until the liquid reaches the level of the rice, stir once, cover and cook on the lowest heat for twenty minutes.

   20 min

6. Lime at the table

   Rest ten minutes, fold it over and serve with lime wedges. Longaniza is fatty and garlicky and the squeeze is not optional.

   10 min