7 recipes that use annatto, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Hogao, takes 20 minutes. It is most often cooked with garlic, cumin and onion.
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Hogao (or guiso) is the base and topping of Colombian home cooking, from Antioquia to Cali: ripe tomatoes and long spring onions (cebolla larga) cooked slowly in oil with garlic and cumin until soft and jammy. It is spooned over patacones, arepas, boiled potatoes and yuca, stirred into beans and rice, and served in a little bowl at the table. Chef's tip: cook it low and slow; a fast, hot hogao tastes raw and sharp, while a patient one turns sweet.
Colombian empanadas are small, crunchy half-moons made with yellow corn dough rather than wheat, sold hot from street stands across Bogotá, Medellín and Cali and eaten with a squeeze of lime and a spoonful of ají. The classic filling mixes potato with hogao and often meat; this version keeps the potato and hogao, seasoned with cumin and coriander, which many families make on its own anyway. They are crisp outside and soft and savoury inside. Chef's tip: roll the dough thin, about 3 mm; thick corn dough stays heavy and absorbs oil.
No Nochebuena table from San Juan to Mayagüez is complete without a big caldero of arroz con gandules, and in December every grandmother's pot is judged on it. Medium-grain rice is cooked with pigeon peas (gandules), fresh sofrito, achiote oil, tomato sauce and a scoop of alcaparrado (olives and capers), until each grain is tender and golden-orange. Island cooks usually add pork; this version gets its depth from a generous spoon of sofrito and good stock, and loses nothing. The best part is the pegao, the crisp golden crust left on the bottom of the pot. Chef's tip: once the lid goes on, leave the rice alone; stirring breaks the grains and releases starch, and you will lose both the fluffy texture and the pegao.
In Vitória, capital of Espírito Santo, people like to say that moqueca is capixaba and everything else is just fish stew. Their version contains no coconut milk and no palm oil: firm white fish is layered with onion, tomato and plenty of fresh coriander, coloured red with annatto (urucum) and olive oil, and cooked in its own juices. It is always made and served in a black clay pot, the panela de barro handmade by the potters (paneleiras) of the Goiabeiras district, whose craft is protected as Brazilian heritage. Families eat it at weekend lunches with white rice and pirão, a porridge made from the fish broth and manioc flour. Chef's tip: no clay pot? Use a heavy cast-iron casserole with a lid; a thin pan heats unevenly and the bottom layer scorches.
Kare-kare belongs to Pampanga, the province north of Manila that many Filipinos call the country's kitchen, and it is the stew families bring out for fiestas, birthdays and long Sunday lunches. Oxtail and beef shin are simmered until the meat falls from the bone, then finished in a thick, nutty sauce coloured orange with annatto and thickened with toasted ground rice. The sauce itself is barely salted on purpose: everyone adds a little sautéed shrimp paste (bagoong alamang) at the table, so the dish contains shellfish. Pile it over steamed rice with the aubergine, long beans and pak choi. Chef's tip: toast the rice in a dry pan until it is the colour of biscuits before grinding it; that roasted smell is what makes the sauce taste of kare-kare rather than plain peanut butter.
Hallacas are Venezuelan Christmas. In December whole families gather around a kitchen table in Caracas, Maracaibo or the Andes to make dozens at once: one person cleans banana leaves, another spreads the annatto-tinted corn dough, another adds the guiso (a stew of pork, beef and chicken) and the garnishes, and someone else ties the parcels. This is a pork dish. The guiso is traditionally finished with red wine; for an alcohol-free version use the same amount of beef stock with a tablespoon of red wine vinegar. They are eaten with pan de jamón and chicken salad from Christmas Eve to New Year. The common mistake is spreading the dough too thick, which makes heavy, stodgy parcels; it should be thin enough to almost see the leaf through it. Chef's tip: make the guiso a day ahead and chill it, so it is firm and easy to portion.
Drive along the coast road at Piñones in Loíza on a weekend and the beach kiosks are frying alcapurrias by the tray, each one wrapped in paper with a dash of chilli vinegar. The shell is a masa of grated green banana and yautía (taro root), coloured with annatto oil, that fries to a crisp crust with a soft, almost creamy inside; the filling here is a well-seasoned beef picadillo. They are a Loíza tradition with roots in the town's Afro-Puerto Rican cooking. The common mistake is frying warm, wet masa, which spreads and falls apart in the oil; chill it until firm. Chef's tip: shape them on a piece of greaseproof paper or banana leaf brushed with annatto oil, then slide each one straight off into the pan.
