What are gandules, you ask?  They are pigeon peas and my mother gives me a few cans every time I visit her because she says she can buy them cheaper in Chicago than I can in Minnesota (it’s true). Unfortunately, I don’t cook arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas) as much as many Puerto Ricans do so I tend to have cans pile up in  my cupboard.
Since my mother will be coming to visit next week (along with her two sisters) I was brainstorming with other people on what to feed them. One relative suggested making gandules soup. So I scoured the internet for recipes but found that most of them had ham in them and since I don’t eat ham, I had to concoct my own recipe.
So I ventured where no man, er, woman, has gone before (well, not really but it sounds good!) … I made up my own recipe. And so I will share my vegetarian gandules soup with you. I have to say that the soup tasted “the day after.”
Ingredients
- 1 can Goya gandules
- 2 cups vegetarian broth
- 4 red or white potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
- 1/2 package Sazon (if you don’t have sazon you can omit it and just add other seasonings like salt, pepper, thyme, etc.)
- Sofrito (to taste), this can be purchases already made or click here for my homemade recipe
- 1 cup of cooked rice
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- In a medium sized pot, add the vegetarian broth, potatoes, sazon and sofrito and stir everything until it’s well blended. Cook through for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
- Open the can of gandules and drain the water from it. Rinse the gandules under cold water then add them to the pot.
- Add the cooked rice to the pot.
- Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Cook through for about 15 minutes.
- Add additional water if you feel it’s getting too thick but make sure you adjust the seasonings also.
That’s pretty much it! Â A very simple soup to make. Serve it with crackers or bread. Yum!
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Which goya sazon variety do you Use?
Which broth brand?
It’s the Sazon with Culantro and Achiote, but anyone would work.
Which brand of vegetable broth/stock or bouillon do you use?
Lately I’ve been using the Vegetable Broth that Trader Joe’s sells. Any brand would work though.