Panamanian Sofrito

5 from 1 vote

Experience the essence of Panamanian cuisine with our easy-to-follow sofrito recipe. Elevate your meals with this versatile and flavorful base. Get cooking now!

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: Panamanian

Servings: serving

Calories: 208kcal

Author: Nadja Belgrave

Equipment

knife
Chopping board
Paila or Dutch Oven
Spatula

Ingredients

Base Sofrito Ingredients

1 Tablespoons Oil can use olive oil, vegetable or annatto
1 onion small
2 cloves garlic
6 ajíes dulces or 1 bell pepper
3 leaves culantro

Instructions

The prep step is to chop your ingredients finely. This base recipe will only use onion, garlic, sweet pepper, and culantro. You can add other ingredients depending on what you are using it for.
Add the oil to a saucepan at medium-low heat to start cooking. Start by sauteing onions until translucent. Add sweet peppers and saute until soft. Then add garlic, saute until fragrant, and add fresh culantro. Season with salt and pepper.
Now it's time to use on sauces or add to your rice, beans, or stews. Add tomato sauce and let it cook until flavors integrate.

Notes

To prepare it beforehand, you can chop the veggies and store them in an airtight container in the fridge so they are ready before you prepare your meal.
Alternatively, you can cook it ahead of time. It may lose some flavor, but you can revive it by adding fresh culantro or other fresh ingredients.
Wait until the pan is hot to add the oil and lightly fry the vegetables. This will ensure the oil is infused and the vegetables release their flavor.
Always use fresh ingredients; this will yield the best flavor.
Add the culantro last to the cooking so it doesn't burn, then add tomato sauce and the additional ingredients.
If using sofrito for meat stews, sear the meat first, then in the same pot, make the sofrito; this will add a depth of flavor to the final dish.
Only if you can't get culantro, then use cilantro, the taste will be slightly different, but it can work. Even though it's not my personal preference.
This recipe can be used for a pound of stew, beans, and lentils. If you love more flavor, double the recipe and adjust it if needed.
Other Flavor combos:
- Ají Chombo: This is the quintessential spice for Afro-Caribbean food. It provides heat to the end dish.
- Tomato sauce or tomato paste: This ingredient also adds color to the preparation, especially when you want to make stews. It's used when making guacho.
- Fresh diced tomato adds a fresh taste to the sauce used. Fry it with the rest of the ingredients.
- Worcestershire sauce or Soy sauce: to enhance the flavor of all the aforementioned ingredients.
- Recao verde: This is a processing of parsley, chives, onion, garlic, and sometimes chili. This combination adds more flavor and is an easy way to use the herbs before they wilt.
- Celery: This ingredient is mostly used in arroz con Pollo, but if you enjoy it, you can add it to your sofrito for stews and legumes.
- Oil: To lightly fry the ingredients and extract the flavor. You can use regular olive oil, vegetable oil, or achiote oil.

Nutrition