I've been looking forward to making a Seafood Paella, but wanted to give myself a practice round so I made "Arroz Con Pollo" (chicken with rice) and cooked it in the same fashion (cooking time, liquid ratios, technique) that I would use to make the seafood paella.
Traditionally the technique to cook "Paella" is to cook outdoors on charcoal or wood fire or indoors over flaming coals. Some people use large burners also. The rice is never covered, it's cooked open in a large flat pan called a "Paellera"in english a "Paella pan" I didn't feel like cooking it outdoors and was okay using one of my normal stove burners since it was large enough, and I ended up using to burners towards the end to get my rice to cook evenly. Rotating and technique was important on my stove top.
I've made this dish before for a friend at his house, unfortunately his stove was really small and the burner so i could never get my paellera in the center of the fire, the rice didn't cook evenly, parts burnt and the fire just wasn't large and wide enough to make all the water evaporate perfectly. I ended up with mushy rice.
But here at home it came out perfect :)
Ingredients:
-3 lbs. chicken cut into small pieces
-1 onion minced
-1 bell pepper minced
-1/2 head garlic minced
-2 ripe grated tomatoes or chopped or 1/2 cup tomato sauce
-salt to taste
-ground black pepper to taste
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-2 bay leaves
-1 can or bottle of your favorite beer or 1 cup dry white wine
-5 cups water plus 1 more so I guess 6 (you may need more depending on your burner or stove)
-2 1/2 cups short grain rice
-1 tsp. bijol/ colorante/ saffron or a sazon goya packet with achiote or azafran for color
Optional:
-1/2- 1 cup frozen peas for color
-1 fire roasted red bell pepper cut into strips for color
Directions:
(1) Heat a the large pan on high heat, when hot, quickly add olive oil, lower heat to medium high, sprinkle with salt so chicken won't stick to much, and add chicken, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Brown chicken on all sides
(2) While chicken is browning, chop your onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Once browned, stir in onion and bell pepper, allow to cook down until translucent, add garlic cook until fragrant, add tomato sauce stir well and reduce, add all your spices, bay leave, cumin, oregano. Stir well, and stream in beer all of it, allow to reduce on high heat and it will deglaze everything to until it's thick and coats the chicken.
(3) Add your water and bring to a boil on high heat, add saffron or bijol or whatever coloring you used, along with 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon (optional) lower heat to medium high and allow chicken to boil for about 10-15 minutes uncovered or more until it's tender.
(4) Somewhere in between while doing all that stuff, clean your rice by washing it 3 times, and drain it well, add it to the boiling pot in the form of a cross (I don't know why it's superstition or tradition I guess)
(5) Spread it evenly, throw your peas (optional) allow to boil on high heat for 5 minutes, then lower heat to medium high for 15 minutes
(6) Turn off heat, cover with a cloth, and seal with a top if you have one let it rest at least 10 more minutes (this will make the harder rice on top poof or be tender enough to eat)
(7) Uncover, decorate with fire roasted red bell pepper
(8) Served it at the table family style so everyone can just pile it up on their plates, along with a delicious salad. Felt like doing this close- up
On my plate, I went a little light on the yellow coloring but it was still delicious
PLEASE NOTE:*I have a pot of boiling water on the side, in case the rice absorbs all the liquid to quickly and needs more, I ladle hot boiling water or broth carefully.
*Also this is the best Arroz Con Pollo I have made, my family loved it! From now on this will be the "Arroz Con Pollo" I will be making :)
Nathan tu arroz es igual al que hago yo, también está en mi blog a veces le pongo cúrcuma en polvo y queda amarillo. Oye de donde es tu mamá?
ReplyDeletepues la differencia que yo noto es que le meto un sofrito cubano (pimiento verde, cebolla ajo y tantinto tomate en aciete de oliva abundante) luego los sazones son comino, oregano, hoja de laurel, y pa'color achiote o azafran. Y siempre una cerveza jeje. Esos sazones y sofritos son muy tipicos de la cocina cubana.
ReplyDeleteLooks great! And it's calling out for aguacate salad! Make sure that beer is not dark! I use wine at first and towards the middle add some beer.
ReplyDeleteMamey,
ReplyDeleteThanks I forgot what type of beer I used just some beers I grabbed from a party ha ha, but I don't think it was dark. MmmmmMmmmm aguacate I didn't have any at the time, but today at home we have tons we bought like 10 aguacates haha.
Nathan, I made this dish last night for dinner. Wow!! This is the best arroz con pollo I've ever made! Thank you sooo much for posting this recipe, my Salvadoran husband absolutely loved this dish!!!! He kept telling me how delicious this meal was! I served it with green beans and tostones, and of course, tortillas. Last month I made the sweet plantain empanadas which were also very yummy! Both recipes I have made from your blog have been wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!! I was looking for arroz a la chorrera, but this one is similar....I have a bunch of Cuban friends, but they seem to be busy..no one answers...
ReplyDeleteI'll make it tomorrow.
I make my arroz con pollo very different from the way you make yours. It's nice to see an alternative way of making it.
ReplyDeleteI generally will sautee the chicken skin-side down in olive oil til golden brown, and when I go to flip the chicken to the other side, I will add in diced onions, green bell peppers, and garlic with a bit of dry white cooking wine, cumin, and garlic salt.
After about 5 minutes, I add in a small can of tomato sauce and a medium can of diced tomatoes, both purchased with garlic, basil, oregano seasonings.
I bring the soup-like mixture to a boil and proceed to add in white rice, bijol, and cilantro. I stir and leave the lid off until there's about an inch of space between the liquid and the settled rice. At this point, I'll turn the burner to the lowest setting, cover the pot with foil and/or a lid and let sit for 45 minutes.
You could also use the Minute brand 5-minute rice instead of the real rice. The only difference is you leave all the liquids cooking on medium for half an hour before adding in the rice. Once you add the rice, leave for 5 minutes on low and covered, and it's ready to eat.
Ryan B.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visit, well they both have sofrito, bijol, chicken and rice LOL. the essentials of a Cuban arroz con pollo. (though some will argue you have to have beer or wine in there) I like how yours sounds very herbed (cilantro, oregano, and basil) my mom would LOVE the addition of basil. For this recipe I cooked the rice this way because I used Valencia rice (short-grain rice) the type used in Spain for Paella which is often made uncovered and open air, it's tricky to cook hat rice without getting it soupy. When i want it "a la Chorrera" I add way more liquid, and cover the rice (short-grain) and when I use long-grain white I bring to boil, and cover it 20- 30 minutes over low heat.