Puerto Rican Cuisine

Puerto Rican cuisine is the cuisine of the Puerto Rican people.

Puerto Rican culture comes from a blend of cultural influences including Spanish, African, and Taino cultures.

Puerto Rican cuisine uses sofrito and adobo often. A vegetable paste or grated vegetable may be known as masa; common masa ingredients include cassava, malanga, pumpkin, and plantain.

funche: polenta?

Ingredients

rice

pigeon pea, brought from western Africa or Spain

malanga(yautía), type of yam(ñame), cassava(yuca)

green banana, plantain, brought from western Africa

calabaza

natives likely used corn husks, while using banana leaves may be result from African influence

garlic, onion, culantro(recau), coriander

sweet chili(ají dulce), tomato

annatto, used to make annatto oil

salted cod(bacalao)

pork

Dishes

• rice
• coconut rice
• arroz mamposteao
• arroz con habichuelas
• arroz con gandules: rice and pigeon peas cooked with sofrito
• arroz con maiz
• mojito isleño: cooked sauce with onion, tomato, olive, chili, culantro, and other ingredients
• tostones: seasoned plantain sliced, smashed and fried
• yuca con mojo?
• mofongo: cooked and mashed plantain or other starchy vegetable; related to western African fufu
• tostones: fried plantain slices
• alcapurria: malanga fritter with filling
• pasteles: ground cassava, malanga, plantain, and/or pumpkin with filling cooked in plantain or banana leaf; similar to tamales
• hayaca
• rusiao
• empanada
• escabeche
• guisado: braised fish or meat with annatto, vegetable, and spices
• asopao: stew, typically with meat or seafood
• sopa de plátano
• recaíto
• plátanos maduros: sweet fried plantain