Moro de Guandules con Coco

Ingredients

• 2 tins guandules, drained
• 1 tin full-fat coconut milk
• 500 g long grain rice, rinsed
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 3 culantro leaves
• 1½ tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 150 g auyama, in small cubes
• 350 ml water
• 2 tsp salt

Method

1. Sofrito in oil

   Soften the onion, garlic and green pepper in the oil until translucent.

   7 min

2. Herbs and purée

   Add the culantro, oregano and tomato purée and fry for a minute.

   2 min

3. Guandules and auyama

   Stir in the drained guandules and the auyama and let them take on the sofrito for five minutes. The auyama disappears into the rice and sweetens it from the inside.

   5 min

4. Coconut milk as the cooking liquid

   Add the rice, coconut milk, water and salt. Coconut milk scorches far more easily than water, so this pot wants a heavy base and a genuinely low flame once it is covered.

5. Reduce, cover, wait

   Boil uncovered until the liquid sits level with the rice, stir once, cover tightly and cook on the lowest heat for twenty-five minutes.

   25 min

6. Rest and fold

   Rest ten minutes, then fold gently. Every grain should be separate and faintly sweet, with the coconut showing as richness rather than as a flavour that announces itself.

   10 min