Vegan Locrio de Salchicha (Dominican Style Rice with Sausage)
This DR style (v)meat and rice dish brings me back to my childhood. The seasonings create a deeply flavorful dish that absolutely slaps.
(Link to printable PDF at bottom of page)
Recipe
Servings: This makes 3-4 servings, depending on your appetite.
Approximate Measurements & Ingredients
1 package - Beyond Meat, Hot Italian Sausage
Frozen, sliced while frozen
2 tsp. olive oil (for sausage)
2 tsp. olive oil (for rice)
3 tbsp. sofrito
2 tsp. dried oregano
7-10 olives
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2.5 cups Jasmine rice
5.5 cups water
1tsp. Better Than Bouillon Vegetarian No Chicken Base
1.5 cubes Rapunzel Vegetable Bouillon with Herbs
Salt (to taste)
A handful of fresh cilantro
1 piece of parchment paper
Instructions
Sausage
While still frozen, cut sausage into rounds.
Sauté with oil. Stir periodically, and cook until golden brown. Remove from fire and set aside.
Rice
Heat up pot on medium heat. Add the oil, sofrito, oregano, olives, tomato paste, and bouillon ingredients.
Once these have sauteed for 3-5 min, add water and bring mixture to a boil.
Taste broth for salt content. (Add more salt as desired. You can wait until the rice has been added to do a final taste test.)
Add rinsed rice and stir.
You should do a final broth taste test now. The salt level should taste good to your palate.
Place the lid on the pot, while making sure to leave a bit of a gap, for steam to escape. (It’ll take approximately 10 min to get to the next step. Mix only a few times as you wait.)
When there isn’t much broth left, bring the fire down to low.
Add the sausage and mix in well. Add cilantro.
Cover the pot with parchment paper and let cook/steam for approximately 20 min.
After the 20 min wait, carefully uncover the rice and remove the cilantro.
Mix well, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
Precooking the sausage and adding it to the rice towards the end, prevents a gummy/swollen texture which is kinda gross. I’ve learned this through trial and error.
I used olive oil, but feel free to use any oil of choice that’s not too strong tasting.
Don’t feel like you need to have 100% of the ingredients to try this recipe out! Each ingredient does add its own layer of flavor to the dish, but substitute as needed, work with what you have access to.
If you boil the water ahead of time (separately) it’ll speed up the cooking process, but this isn't essential.
Next time, I might add 1 tsp. of liquid smoke. I never have before, but the idea just popped into my head. Of course this isn't traditionally Dominican, but the joy of cooking is that you can make it your own, as you please, as you wish, when you need!
I use a stainless steel pan because, although the rice is extremely delicious, my favorite part of a locrio is always at the bottom. I use a spoon to scrape the bottom and remove the concón (crispy, scorched rice) which to me, and many other Dominicans, is pretty much solid gold (oro sólido--wink, wink). I then top my concón with a bit of stewed beans! It’s hard not to overeat. Ugh, sooo good! By the time I took this picture, I had already eaten some:
