Simply delicious “Arroz con Gandules” for a 100
16 cups or 8 lbs of Rice
36 cups of water with 1 cup of chicken bouillon powder
8 – 15 oz cans of pigeon peas(Gandules)
1 finely chopped onion
2 cups of fresh chopped Cilantro
12 ounces of tomato sauce, 1 can
3 cups of stuffed Olives
8 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
4 bay leaves
½ cup of olive oil
3 cups of sofrito
¾ cup of sazon with achiote
1 lb of ham cut into small cubes
Directions for oven batch
Add the olive oil to the pot and add the ham at medium high heat stir for a minute or so then add the onion and stir for a minute.
Add the sofrito stir for 2 minutes but don’t let it dry out or burn
Add the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and the sazon, stirring to mix well and heat the tomato sauce .
Now add the bay leaves and the water and bring to a boil, taste the water, it should be really seasoned add adobo to taste, probably several teaspoons, 2 maybe but do make it too salty, the olives will raise the salt. It should be dark red or orange.
Now add the peas, olives and rice mix well, turn of the heat and mix well and pour into the aluminum pans. Water should just cover the rice if it doesn’t add more water.
Bake at 350, covered for about 40 minutes, test and if the rice is not done go for 5 more minute at test until down. Don’t stir while cooking, it will get mushy.
Before serving stir in the chopped cilantro