Mojito Rice?

Slowly, the insides of my fridge and cupboards and becoming bare! It’s almost like every night feels like an Iron Chef moment where I’m trying to think of creative ways to make something delicious with limited ingredients. So tonight, my “secret ingredient” was a jar of Cuban Mojito Simmering Sauce from Trader Joes.
The dish is similar to an Arroz Con Gandules ( a Puerto Rican Dish I made in an earlier post) however the flavor of green chiles from the mojito sauce definitely shines through.

Here’s my recipe for Mojito Rice with Pork and Pigeon Peas:

1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 pork chops, cubed
1 jar Cuban Mojito Simmering Sauce
1 1/2 cups of long grain rice, uncooked
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can pigeon peas, drained
1 tablespoon cumin
garlic powder & onion powder to taste
salt & pepper to taste

In a pan, saute garlic in oil.
Season pork with seasonings and brown with garlic.
When browned, add rice and stir to coat with oil.
Add sauce, tomatoes, pigeon peas.
Stir and allow to cook on medium to medium low heat.
Add more seasonings to taste.

Puerto Rican Pleasures

Tonight I made use of my previously cooked pork roast that was roasted with citrus seasoning. One of my favorite pork dishes is Arroz Con Gandules, a Puerto Rican dish.

Puerto Rico’s national dish is called Arroz con Gandules which is a rice-and-pigeon-pea dish nicely seasoned with a sofrito and smoked ham. I substituted the traditional smoked ham with roasted pork.
Other common names for pigeon peas are arhar, red gram, toovar, toor, togari, Kandi (Telugu), gandul, Congo pea, Gungo pea, Gunga pea, and no-eye pea. The cultivation of the pigeon pea goes back at least 3000 years.
Here is my recipe for Arroz con Gandules:

2 cups cubed, cooked pork roast
1-2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 small onions, chopped
cooking oil
1 can of diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 can pigeon peas or gandules
1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
2 cups water
green onions, chopped (optional)

In a pan, coat the bottom with a little oil and saute garlic & onions.
Add cooked pork and brown just a little.
Add rice and stir to coat with oil.
Add can of tomatoes, undrained.
Add can of pigeon peas.
Add water and cover.
Simmer over medium low heat, stirring occassionally.
Season to taste.
Garnish with chopped green onion.

** I did not add any additional seasoning because my pork had a lot of seasoning from roasting it previously.