Cooking time: None

The aroma that wafts from kitchens throughout Puerto Rico comes from sofrito – a blend of herbs and spices that gives many of the native foods their distinctive taste and color. Sofrito, a potpourri of onions, garlic and peppers sautéed in either olive oil or lard and colored with achiote (annatto seeds), imparts the bright yellow color to the island’s rice, soups and stews.

How to use it
Just fry it in a little oil and add to a meat or chicken dish. This is the key condiment that is used in almost every local recipe. 

(1) Ajicito or aji dulce: a sweet pepper, a variety of capsicum chinense. It is a small green pepper that turns yellow and then red when it ripens. It is similar in shape and size to a habanero pepper, but without the heat. The ají dulce is widely used in South American and Caribbean cuisines.

1. Seed the cubanelle and ajicito peppers.
2. Peel the onion and garlic cloves.
3. Coarsely chop the onion and peppers.
4. Put all the ingredients (except the oil) into a food processor or blender and pulse until finely chopped.
5. Mix in the oil. Transfer to an airtight container. Store in the fridge up to 2 weeks.