Sauce, sofrito, prepared from recipe

Sofrito is the aromatic base that starts countless Puerto Rican and broader Caribbean dishes: a blended or finely chopped mix of onion, bell pepper (often aji dulce), garlic, tomato, cilantro or culantro, and sometimes ham or salt pork, cooked down into a thick, deeply savory paste. Cooks stir a spoonful into simmering rice, beans, stews like sancocho, or braised meats at the start of cooking to build flavor from the bottom of the pot, rather than using it as a finishing sauce. Its texture is soft and almost jam-like once cooked down, with a sweet-savory profile from the peppers and tomato balanced by garlic and herbs.

Because sofrito is meant to be used in small spoonfuls rather than eaten by the cupful, a batch keeps well refrigerated for about a week or frozen in ice cube trays for months, letting you portion out exactly what a pot of rice or beans needs. This version delivers 237 calories and 12.8 g of protein per 100 g cup serving, with protein covering 26% of the daily value and vitamin C reaching 23%, so a few spoonfuls stirred into a dish add real seasoning depth without needing to be a meal on their own. Sodium runs high at 1,140 mg per 100 g, so home cooks often skip added salt in the rest of the recipe when sofrito is already part of the pot.