Salchichas or vienna sausages have deep roots in Puerto Rican cuisine. In the 1930s the Puerto Rican Emergency Relief Administration (PRERA) was created as a mechanism to try to improve the seriously impoverished island. With PRERA came canned meats, which was previously not part of Puerto Ricans' diet but we quickly figured out how to add it to our diet. Now, its such a staple that we can't imagine lives without arroz con salchichas.
Ingredients:
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup sofrito
8 oz tomato sauce
¼ cup olives
3 cans of vienna sausages
2 lbs rice - washed
3 cups water
1 tbs salt
The process to make this rice is very similar to other recipes that we have shared in the channel like the beans and arroz con gandules.
Turn on the stove to medium. In a large pot, add the oil, sofrito, tomato sauce and olives. There are plenty of other ingredients that you could add here like fresh onions, peppers, sazon, etc., but I am keeping this very simple.
Mix thoroughly to make sure that all of the flavors incorporate. Let this come to a boil, this is very important as you want to make sure that the flavors for the rice develop. Mix it one more time and then add the vienna sausages.
I remove all of the liquid from the can before adding them as I don’t want the extra added salt in the rice. Mix it altogether one more time.
After 2 minutes, add the rice to the pot. Make sure to mix the rice and the sofrito mix really well together so the flavor in your rice is uniform.
After 2 minutes, add the water and salt and turn the temperature up to medium high.
Mix the rice, making sure once again to mix really well so the flavor is homogenous. This also prevents the grains of rice from sticking to the bottom too early on as you don't want a lot of rice to get stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Once the water starts boiling, mix the rice one more time. As you can see, I have not cut the salchichas at this point. I like to keep them whole just until the rice dries out, this is pure preference, you can cut them from the beginning.
After 2 minutes mix the rice one more time, you will notice that we are using a caldero which is a very traditional Puerto Rican pot, but as we have mentioned in previous videos, you do not need a caldero to make rice, you can use any pot with a wide bottom.
Once the rice is almost dry, then move it one last time and cut the sausages with the spoon as you mix. You will see that I mix the rice from the outside into the middle and form a small hill in the middle of the pot. I do that to minimize the rice that is stuck to the sides of the pot.
Cover the pot, lower the temperature to low and cook for 20 minutes.
After the 20 minutes, open the pot and give it one good stir, making sure to move the rice that is on the top towards the bottom and the one in the bottom towards the top to ensure an even cook.
Cover the pot one more time and cook for another 10 minutes.
After the 10 minutes, give it one last stir, you can use a fork to fluff the rice and of course try it! Turn off the stove and enjoy your rice.
Check out our instructional video, showing how to make this recipe step-by-step HERE.