Learn to Make Sofrito
In puertorrican cooking sofrito is essential for everything from meats, to rice, sauces and stews.
10 leaves recao
20 cloves garlic
3 onions
2 lb sweet peppers (aji dulce)
4 cubanelle pepperts (pimientos)
1 bundle cilantro
10-15 leaves oregano
4-5 tomato (optional)
Look for all the ingredients
Chop small sweet peppers into half and take out seeds
Chop cubanelle peppers into four shreds and take out seeds
Peal onion and chop into small cubes
Make sure that recao, oregano, and cilantro are completely clean
Blend everything and don’t worry about proportions in the blender, you’ll mix it up in a huge bowl until it’s a consistent color. Put in ice trays and freeze. When they are completely frozen remove from trays and store in plastic bags.
Sofrito is a mixture of aromatic herbs, vegetables, stock/water and oil. Sofrito is the result of our heritage and mixture of cultures (spanish, taino, african). We have many versions of it depending on what we have available. My mom recommends that you use ice trays to freeze the sofrito into ice cubes, so when your cooking you can use what you need and store the rest. make a lot and it saves you time in the future. In the freezer it will lasts months (2 to 4) and doesn’t take lot do dissolve in heat.once frozen remove from ice trays and store sofrito cubes in a plastic bag.Prepping: taking out seeds, cutting onions, and cleaning the garlic is the most time-consuming. The other part, which is putting it in a blender is the easy part.Ice trays used for sofrito should be only used for this purpose because they will smell like sofrito and transfer the smell and taste to anything you use them for.Other versions:Sofrito with hamSofrito with color (achiote o tomato)Sofrito with pork fat, water or vegetable oilSofrito for appetizers: tomato, bell pepper, capersSofrito for beans: achiote, tomato sauce/pasteSofrito for “escabeche” (its like a pickling liquid, souse, brine, marinade): vinegar, black pepper, stuffed olives, laurel leavesRice: bell pepper, achiote and tomato sauce/pasteGuisos/ stew: tomato sauce/paste, laurel leaves