Latin Flair – Sazon Dominicano (Dominican Seasoning)
We interrupt your regularly scheduled sweet programming for a special savory pause.
Many non-Latinos I have come across immediately associate Latin food with hot and spicy notes. And seem confused when I tell them I avoid spicy foods like the plague. (This chica can handle heat in so many ways, but not in her food.) That’s because Dominican food is another type of “spicy”. Its flavors are robust and packs an incredible flavor punch sans the heat of pepper, chiles or jalapenos.
At the essence of my familia’s cooking are some simple ingredients and flavors that when combined are anything but ordinary. It’s a variation of sofrito, the backbone of Latino cooking that makes it so finger licking delicious. In its most basic form, sofrito consists of garlic, vegetables and spices/herbs that are diced and sauteed in oil over medium heat and then added as the flavor base to a plethora of dishes – rice, meats, fish, stews and beans to name a few.
My familia’s version is simply called sazon (seasoning) because it is not cooked. Instead we take all the ingredients and process them down to a wet paste. The result is a marinade that has every flavor profile you would want to incorporate into a dish rolled into one. I’ll be the first to say that by itself, this doesn’t look very appealing. But as with most things in life, there is way more than beats the eye with this creation.
My mami has been putting this concoction together since as long as I have memory and recently, she came over to my apartment to help me figure out the right ingredient proportions to make it taste just like hers. Now this isn’t the sort of seasoning/marinade you make for single use. The recipe that follows make A TON – roughly a half gallon. But that’s the beauty of it – you put in 30 minutes of peeling and chopping on a lazy Sunday afternoon and you’ll be thanking yourself a million times over when you need to get a quick weeknight meal on the table. My parents used to make a couple of gallons worth when my sisters and I were little!
Start with all the ingredients that will make you cry (literally) – red onion, hot peppers and garlic – all roughly chopped. Do yourself a favor and buy the ready peeled garlic so that you won’t be left with stinky fingers for a couple of days. Stick all of these in the food processor before you proceed with prepping all the other ingredients as the fumes from the peppers and onions are strong.
Then continue with everything else, again roughly chopped -
Plum tomatoes, green bell peppers, cilantro, scallion, red bell peppers and celery.
Process the first batch along with some kosher salt, black pepper, ground oregano and white vinegar. Then start adding the rest of the vegetables and continue to process until you have used up all of the vegetables. Pour batches into a large mixing bowl and at the very end, stir well to incorporate and viola! – you’re done. Don’t fret – I know this all sounds very pungent but once everything is blended, all the flavors mellow out.
There are very few things my mami cooks without this. And while it may seem that everything will taste the same, the seasoning takes on a slightly different flavor with every food. It’s like a miracle.
Hope this little piece of me and my cultura adds all sorts of deliciousness to your kitchen.
Sazon Dominicano ( Dominican Seasoning)
Ingredients:
2 pounds red onion (roughly 6 small onions), chopped
6 scotch bonnet peppers, seeded and chopped
3 cups garlic cloves
4 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground oregano
6 tablespoons vinegar
1 pound plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 large bunch cilantro, chopped
1 small bunch scallion, chopped
3 red bell pepper, chopped
3 celery ribs, choppedDirections:
Process red onion, scotch bonnet pepper and garlic in a food processor fitted with a steel blade along with salt, black pepper, oregano and vinegar. Then add the remaining vegetables and continue to process until all the vegetables have been used up. As the bowl of the food processor gets filled to the top, empty the mixture into a large bowl and the end, mix well to incorporate.
Store in a sealed container in your refridgerator for up to 6 months.
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Jackie Hale — August 17, 2011 @ 1:32 pm
From a Boriqua to a Quisqueyana..I know sazon!! lol
Rosa — August 17, 2011 @ 7:06 pm
I bet it tastes heavenly!
Cheers,
Rosa
Emme @Food Samba — August 17, 2011 @ 11:22 pm
Nice! This sounds perfect for a busy, student/working mom like me! It’s a great idea, thanks for sharing! ? Like you said, it probably goes with everything but, do you have any suggestions of favorite dishes you use this in? Btw, I hate that people often clump “Latin cuisine” into one type of cusine! Little do they know, we all have our similar, but different ways of cooking! xoxo, Emme
CookiePie — August 18, 2011 @ 9:14 am
Oh, these are the best recipes, the ones mami teaches over your shoulder! Thank you so much for sharing this – it’s a treasure!!
Kim — August 18, 2011 @ 9:20 am
Love this!
Eliza Cardenas — August 18, 2011 @ 9:57 am
This looks amazing! I’m curious — what types of dishes would you use this in?
Eliana replied: — August 18th, 2011 @ 10:00 am
This is my mom’s go-to for just about everything she cooks, particularly fish and meats. Hard to pick what I like it best in but my favs are in roast pork, stewed beef, quick shrimp stew and red or black beans. Also give great flavor to rice dishes, like arroz con pollo.
The Duo Dishes-Chrystal — August 18, 2011 @ 12:23 pm
Reminiscent of the Caribbean green seasoning. Very cool!
The Bluebird Patch — August 18, 2011 @ 12:36 pm
I love sofrito. I use it all the time. My grandma likes to add “culantro” which for some reason I can’t recall it’s translation to English. Coriander?
Bren — August 18, 2011 @ 12:41 pm
looks so much like ours, too. Tanto sabor!!
Kathleen — August 18, 2011 @ 12:58 pm
These looks amazing. So smart to have your mom come over and figure it out perfectly!
Coco Cooks — August 18, 2011 @ 6:57 pm
Yummm! I can just taste it.
Cheryl | Black Girl Chef's Whites — August 18, 2011 @ 8:24 pm
I will have to try this one! I miss Dominican food since I moved back to Cali from Brooklyn!
Bonnie from sweet Life — August 19, 2011 @ 7:28 pm
Thanks for posting your wonderful recipe, I have always wanted to try making sazon. So many ideas running through my heasd, yeah!! excited!!
bonnie
Bonnie from sweet Life — August 19, 2011 @ 7:29 pm
Thanks for posting a family favorite recipe. I have always wanted to try making sazon to add flavor to a new dish!! How excitng, so many ideas running through my headz!
Kerstin — August 22, 2011 @ 12:24 am
Yum, this sounds SO flavorful and like it would be perfect on such a variety of cuts of meat. I love that you make so much of it at once too, what a great way to save time!
Sugen — August 23, 2011 @ 1:44 pm
I hate going in the kitchen when mom makes this, my eyes start to water…
Aggie — August 26, 2011 @ 5:46 pm
I am loving this…look at all the goodness in this sauce!
Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets — August 28, 2011 @ 3:32 pm
OoO this is totally new to me, but I love the sound of it — great flavors!
Steff — May 10, 2012 @ 3:56 pm
As a fellow Dominican myself I remember when I lived down there we didnt own a blender my grandmother would pound most or all of those ingredients in a mortar (which we call pillón) everyday… the flavors were so fresh and delicious…one thing i must admit the minute you heat up a pot with a lil olive oil and just add the sazon omg!!! the smell is out of this world!! I now make it in a blender put in a plastic container for a few days season most if not all my meats with it delicious!