Arroz Amarillo Cubano (Cuban Yellow Rice)

Before I begin let me tell you this is the most plain basic recipe of cuban yellow rice well cubans just call it yellow rice but I know other cultures have yellow rice to and do it differently.

This is my grandmothers from my fathers side recipe.

This is sort of the base recipe you can built on it. I will go into detail with that at the very bottom of the recipe. Read everything before critiquing it for being to simple :)

Ingredients:
-3 cups long-grain white rice
-4 1/2 cups water
-1 red or green bell pepper minced (I prefer red for this dish but I only had green in the fridge today)
-1 onion minced
-4-6 cloves garlic crushed and minced
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1 bay leave (optional)
-1/2- 1 teaspoons "Bijol" (which is what I use) or "Ground Achiote/ Annato seeds" or "saffron" or "Achiote infused Olive Oil" (the achiote infused olive oil should be used to sautee everything and it will make the rice yellow)
-Salt to taste (about 2-3 teaspoons)
-extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:
(1)Sift the rice if you wish to get rid of any little grains or impurities, then wash the rice in cold water once or if you wish until water runs clear. Drain.

(2)Put rice in rice cooker with water

(3)Heat extra-virgin olive oil on medium high in a frying pan and sautee bell peppers, onions, and garlic until onions are translucent and everything is fragrant. Add to rice.
(4)Add to the rice mixture cumin, salt to taste, and bijol stirring until the water looks yellowish or yellowish orange(5)Close rice cooker and set on cook until rice is done.
You can serve with anything that you would eat with white rice :)

SO HERE IS THE IMPORTANT EXPLANATION HOW TO USE THIS AS A BASE FOR OTHER RICE DISHES MY GRANDMA MADE A BUNCH OF RICE DISHES USING THIS BASIC RECIPE" there's way more variations that what I will mention but you get the idea :)

(1) You can make this rice dish more beautiful and colorful by adding 1 cup of frozen peas. And then garnish with fire roasted red bell peppers (optional) I've also noticed some cooks like to add 1 teaspoon of sweet or hot paprika (my grandmother never used Paprika for this)

(2) You can add 1 can of pigeon peas and call it "Arroz Con Gandules" sometimes she would brown cubed pork that has been seasoned and browned in a pan along with the pigeon peas. This was her version of the Puerto Rican "Arroz Con Gandules"

(3) You can add little cubes of pork or chicken that have been seasoned with some salt and pepper or salt, pepper, lime, and garlic then browned in olive oil add added to the rice to cook together. Then it will be a very simple "Arroz Con Pollo" or "Arroz Amarillo Con Carne de Puerco"

(4) You can add peeled, deviened cleaned shrimp to the rice and then it is "Arroz Amarillo Con Camarones" or even clams or a mixture of seafood. If making with shrimp I suggest you peel your own shrimp and make a shrimp stock by boiling the shrimp shells with some water and salt until it gets the shrimp flavor.

(5) You can also add some corn cobs cut in 3 parts to the rice before it cooks and cook together it will give the rice a corn flavor and is delicous. This is called "Arroz Amarillo Con Maiz"

(6) You can also add any vegetables particularily blanched okra or sliced carrots or any seasonal vegetable and call it "Arroz Amarillo Con Vegetales"

(7) To elaborate the flavor you can use the plain recipe and substitute water for chicken stock or vegetable stock. Also shrimp stock is tastey to (made by boiling shrimp shells in water with some salt until the water gets the FLAVOR)

(8) You can add a can of chickpeas for "Arroz Amarillo Con Garbanzos" (yellow rice and chickpeas) or you can sautee 4 links of Spanish chorizo in the sofrito for (arroz amarillo con chorizo) or a combination of both for my "Arroz Amarillo Con Garbanzos y Chorizo"

(9) "Arroz Amarillo Con Salchichas" (yellow rice with veinna sausage added)

(9) But sometimes I just like to make the basic because it goes with any Cuban dish, and because I love eating it with some beans :)

This recipe is a re-post of a recipe I had in my archives, while editing and playing around with it I deleted some of the old pictures so I had to re-post it, plus I didn't think the old post gave it justice because the pictures were worse than what I have here.

Arroz Con Pollo en Forma de Paella (Chicken and Rice in Paella form)

Before I begin for this recipe your going to need a "Paellera" which is a large flat round pan, or a large round kinda flat clay pot, if not it won't come out the same or work. Also if your burner is too small it won't work well or you'll have to rotate it many times.

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 :)

Arroz Amarillo Con Camarones a la Chorrera (Shrimp Rice Porridge)

"Arroz a la Chorrera" in Cuban slang or talk is rice cooked like a porridge, it's thick and soupy, usually made with short-grain rice, colored yellow with saffron, bijol, or achiote seeds. In my house we joke about it since "chorro" could be slang for diarrhea hehe... and chorrera could be having "chorro"... as in "Tengo chorrera" translates to "I have diarrhea... so we say... "rice diarrhea style" (yeah yeah I know sick humor) but "chorro" could also mean a strong burst of water...

In Spain however rices prepared like a thick porridge are usually called "Arroz Caldoso" (brothy rice) and is cooked with whatever you want, usually seafood like Calamari, or a combinations of shrimp, clams, etc.

I wasn't sure if I was gonna label this post "Arroz Caldoso Con Camarones" or "Arroz Con Camarones a la Chorrera" but I think I'll go with the label "a la Chorrera" since it's what we call it down here at home :) Usually when prepared we love to use a combination of clams and shrimp to make "Arroz Con Mariscos a la Chorrera" (rice and seafood porridge) but we had non on hand so we decided to make a delicious "Arroz Con Camarones a la Chorrera" (shrimp rice porridge)

Ingredients:
-2 cups short-grain rice (like Bomba, Calasparra, Calrose, Arborio, etc.)
-1 1/2 lbs. shrimp (peeled and deveined, shells reserved)
-1 lbs. clams (I didn't have any but if you add them it will be wonderful :)
-9-12 cups shrimp stock (see directions, stock is made from reserved shrimp shells)
-2 cups more or less clam stock (optional only if using clams)
-1 onion finely minced
-1 green bell pepper minced
-6 cloves garlic minced
-4 oz. tomato sauce or 1 fresh grated tomato
-extra-virgin olive oil as needed
-1 cup fresh or frozen peas
-4 large carrots cut into rounds
-1 tablespoon sweet smoked Spanish paprika (Pimienton de la Vera)
-saffron to color rice yellow or 1 teaspoon bijol powder or achiote seed infused oil
-salt to taste
Directions:
(1) Peel and devein the shrimp (in case you don't know how, you squeeze the end of the tails, pull back and remove half the peel then remove the rest, put in a bowl the peels and in another the shells) then to remove the black veins by using a knife and cutting open the back then removing the black string vein. Wash them away. Set aside.

(2) In a large or medium pot add shrimp shells and water, bring to a boil, remove foam and let boil for 5- 10 minutes, reserve stock.
(3) If using clams which I didn't have, put clams in a pot with enough water to barely cover them, leave on high heat, when the clams open, turn off heat, remove them, and strain stock and reserve. Set clams aside. (again I didn't have any wish I did)

(4) Alright now, heat a large pot with generous amounts of extra-virgin olive oil, sautee onions and bell peppers on medium high heat until translucent maybe 5-8 minutes, then add garlic sautee another 2-3 minutes, then add tomato let cook down another 5 minutes. Add shrimp stock about 12 cups (If you were using clams, add the clam stock and the rest of the stock should be shrimp), generous amounts of salt (the water has to be salty add about 3 teaspoons), coloring and sweet smoked Spanish paprika.

(5) Bring to a rolling boil on high heat, add washed rice lower heat to low, cover and simmer rice on low for 10 minutes, after 10 minutes, add and fold in carrots, higher heat back to high heat to bring to boil, simmer carrots 10 minutes on low, if the rice looks to thick for you at this point, you want it soupier add more stock or water with a pinch of salt until you reach desired consistency.

(6) Lastly fold in shrimp and clams(if using clams) and peas and let cook an additional 5 minutes.
(7) Serve in large bowls with a salad of your choice.


PLEASE NOTE:
(1) If you don't have sweet smoked Spanish paprika, and want to season it in a more Cuban fashion don't use the paprika and replace it with 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 2 bay leaves, and black pepper to taste that's how my grandmother seasons it, I just prefer it with the sweet smoked Spanish paprika, also my grandmother doesn't add carrot but I like it for color and taste.

(2) I have a secret that makes mine extremely delicious it's not on my recipe list since it might be taboo for Spanish and Cuban Cuisine... but what makes mine extra special is I add 1 tablespoon of Fish Sauce (it's a type of sauce made of fermented fish) and 1 teaspoon monosodium glutamine to the stock...

(3) Also if interested in other versions of this dish you can check out Pilar Lechuza's recipe for "Arroz Caldoso Con Mariscos" she's a wonderful cook specializing in food from Galicia, Spain check out her blog sometime :)

Another good version is done with lobster and mussels she labeled it as "Lobster Soupy Rice" but I'm sure in Spanish she probably calls it "Arroz Caldoso Con Longosta" or something, this one is prepared by Nuria from Barcelona, Spain also very delicious you should also check out her blog :)

In addition there's also a great video by someone I do not know on youtube on preparing "Arroz Caldoso Con Mariscos" :)

Arroz Amarillo Con Chorizo y Garbanzo (Yellow Rice with Spanish Sausage and Chickpeas)

This is not my grandmother's recipe or anything like that, this is my recipe and I sorta made it up, well kinda.

I had seen a recipe behind the GOYA pack of dried garbanzos (or was it the can?), for yellow rice and chickpeas, I had also seen a recipe like that in another Cuban group, also on my blog when I posted "Arroz Amarillo Con Salchichas" one of my readers Mamey commented on rice with Spanish sausage.

So after a while of just thinking (I tend to day dream and yes sometimes I'll day dream about food and come up with idea's) I thought that a combination of Spanish Chorizo and Garbanzo would go really well cooked/ steamed together with rice. Sort of like a rice version of my grandma's (Tata's) Potaje de Garbanzo except no potatoes, cabbage, or squash, or chunks of pork or beef, just sausage and chickpeas and rice seasoned in the same fashion (yes yes I know I suck at expressing myself sometimes)

Ingredients:

-3 cups white long-grain rice

-water (depends 1 1/2 cups for regular long grain rice per 1 cup rice or equal water to rice for a new crop long-grain white jasmine rice)

-1-2 cans of drained and rinsed canned chickpeas/ garbanzo (I used 1 but if I had another can I would've added 2)

-2 links of "El Mino" Spanish Chorizo or 1/2 of regular "Chorizo Espanol" (I use Palacio's "Chorizo Autentico Espanol") remove casing, and thinly sliced into rounds.

-1 small- medium green or red bell pepper finely chopped

-1 medium onion finely chopped

-1/2 a head garlic mashed to a paste (mortar or garlic press, if you don't have just finely mince)

-extra-virgin olive oil (as needed to sautee, etc. atleast 1/4 cup)

-1/2- 1 teaspoon ground cumin

-1 teaspoon Bijol or even better for this dish I think "Saffron"

-2 bay leaves
-atleast 2 tsp. salt or more (tastethe rice water if it's salty like the ocean that's good)

Directions:
(1)Wash rice until water runs clear about 2-3 times. Add water, and set aside in rice cooker.

(2)Heat extra-virgin olive oil on medium to medium high heat, when hot enough add sliced spanish chorizo, fry the chorizo until the color and spices of the chorizo infuse into the oil (it won't take long maybe 1-2 minutes), now add onion and bell pepper sautee for 7 minutes or so until translucent, add garlic and sautee another 2-3 minutes.

(3)Turn off heat and add the sautee to the rice, add drained rinsed garbanzos, cumin, bay leaves, bijol or saffron and salt. Cover and turn on rice cooker, wait for it to beep when it beeps it's done, uncover and fluff rice and mix gently then serve.

(4)You can adjust the recipe to cook it on stovetop (simply sautee all the stuff, add washed drained rice seal it in the oil, add water, spices, chickpeas bring to boil and cover on low for about 30 minutes or so.

P.S.

Everyone in my house loved this dish, we served it with some "Camarones en Salsa Criolla" (shrimp in Cuban tomato based Creole sauce) and "Ensalada de Aji" (Fire roasted bell pepper in garlic lime sauce)

I know some may think, "Oh gosh another lame yellow rice dish they are all so the same" my response, "THEY ARE NOT!" they have common components but the slight changes make a huge impact on the taste of the resulting dish, the strong smokey flavor of the Spanish Sausage that is packed with spanish paprika makes this dish unique and have a distinct flavor, the little Chickpeas get flavored by everything and taste so good in there so don't leave them out I insist.

Hehe I'm posting this from my father's lap top, turns out he's okay with me storing my food pics in his computer for now :) until I get my computer back.

Arroz Amarillo Con Gandules de Tata (Grandma's Rice and Pigeon Peas)

The reason I called this recipe my "Grandma's" is because I have another recipe in this blog called "Arroz Con Gandules", what I am posting now is my grandma's version of "Arroz Con Gandules" the other one I posted is a recipe from a Puerto Rican friend names "Lily"

Arroz Con Gandules is considered a Puerto Rican dish, but we have always consumed "Arroz Con Gandules" in my household, probably my grandmas version is "Cubanized" or she just makes it "her way"

My grandmas interpretation of this dish is yellow rice cooked with pigeon peas and browned pork little pork chunks, with a strong simple "sofrito" just seasoned with salt, bijol and cumin (very basic and simple)

Ingredients:
-1 or 2 cans 15 oz. Gandules (pigeon peas) drained (depends how much you want in your rice we usually use 1 can)

-3 cups white long-grain rice
-water (depends what type of rice if you use regular long grain rice it's 1 1/2 cups water per 1 cup rice, if you use Jasmine Rice that is new and fresh like from this year 2009 which is what I eat at home, use equal water to rice)
-1/4-1/2 lbs. pork meat cut into little cubes like 1/2 inch big (like pork shoulder or boneless leg of pork, etc.)
-1 small green bell pepper finely minced
-1 medium onion finely minced
-5-6 cloves garlic mashed to a paste (through a garlic press)
-salt to taste ATLEAST 2 teaspoons
-1/2-1 tsp. ground cumin (to taste don't over do it for this dish or it will over power it)
-1 tsp. Bijol (annato/ achiote seed powder)
-atleast 1/4 cup olive oil or lard or bacon grease (my grandmother prefers bacon grease or lard leftover from making fried pork rinds to cook this dish, of course you can be really healthy and use extra-virgin olive oil, which also has a delicious taste, either way it will taste really good)

Directions:
(1)Wash rice really well until water runs clear, strain well, put in rice cooker and add water, set aside.

(2)Heat pan on medium high heat, add olive oil or lard, let it heat up a bit like 5 minutes more or less. Be sure the oil is hot enough, you can test it by dipping a wooden spoon if it sizzles it's ready,

(3)Season pork cubes with 1 teaspoon salt (trust me) and add to hot oil, let it fry in one layer underdisturbed until browned. About 5 minutes more or less. Add minced onion and bell pepper and cook down together with pork for about 5-7 minutes, add minced garlic afterwards and cook for 2 minutes or so until fragrant.

(4)Turn off heat and dump this sautee into the rice cooker with the rice and water, mix well. Add drained can of pigeon peas, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon "Bijol", and 1/2- 1 teaspoon cumin. Mix well. Taste the water in there, it should be salty like ocean water, if not add more salt carefully. Increasing by 1/2 tsp. and so on but don't use more than 3 tsp.
(6)Cover and turn on rice cooker and set to cook, when it beeps the rice is done. Fluff it and it's ready.

(5)Serve with whatever you want, I like it with a simple salad, of sliced tomato, cucumber, and onion dressed in lime and salt along with a meat dish that's grilled or pan-fried.

NOTE:
(1)You can adjust this to your stove top, fry the pork, and make the sofrito (sautee of onion, garlic, and bell pepper) add the cleaned drained rice stir well to coat with sofrito, add water, salt, cumin, bijol, and drained can of pigeon peas, bring to a boil, stir, then cover and lower heat to low to cook for about 30 minutes covered, then open to check if it's done if so turn off heat and fluff.

ALSO here is "Lily's" "Arroz Con Gandules" it's prepared differently than my grandmas and is also delicious, both my Tata's and Lily's are delicious, each one has their own unique delicousness:

(1)Lily's Arroz Con Gandules

P.S.
What should I label this? Should I label it Cuban sense it's my grandmother's version and it is in my opinion more "Cubanized" (since it's just a simple sofrito, cumin, salt, bijol and some pork)

I think I'll label it "Cuban" for navigation purposes, but if anyone has a problem with that, speak up and leave a comment, I'll gladly change it to "Puerto Rican"

Do any other Cubans here also eat or make "Arroz Con Gandules"?

Arroz Con Leche de mi Tata (My Grandmas Rice Pudding)

I LOVE my Tata's (grandmother's) rice pudding.

Different countries have their own version of "Arroz Con Leche" and different cooks have their own personalized versions. It varies greatly, even in flavor and texture, the common thing is there's always a dairy and rice.

So what makes my grandmother's version worthwhile and delicious? Well it's so rich, creamy, and dense infused with a light lime or lemon flavor and cinnamon flavor. It incorporates whole milk, velvety evaporated milk, and rich creamy sweet condensed milk... as if that wasn't enough the butter gives it an unsurpassed richness and density. The short grain rice also makes it more creamy, more like risotto.

It's like "Arroz Con Leche" on steroids.

Ingredients:
-2 cups short-grain rice (such as Valencia, , Bomba, Calaspara, Calrose, even other types of Japanese & Korean short-grain rices, oh almost forgot Arborio Rice also works here.)

-4 cups water
-1 big pinch of salt (about 1/4- 1/2 tsp. salt)
-2 cinnamon sticks
-2 small or 1 medium lime only the peel (lemon peel can be used in it's absence)
-3 cups whole milk
-1 can evaporated milk
-1 can sweetened condensed milk
-3/4's cup white cane sugar
-4- 8 tablespoons butter (that's about 1/2- 1 stick of butter)
-1/2- 1 cup regular raisins (optional some people hate raisins)
-ground cinnamon (to dust)

Directions:
(1)In a large pot put rice and wash rice well, wash and drain about 3-5 times until water runs clear.

(2)Add water, salt, lime peel, and cinnamon stick, bring to a boil on high heat (stir occasionally while waiting for it to boil) once boiled stir, cover, and let simmer on low heat for 25-30 minutes on the lowest heat until rice absorbs water.

(3)Meanwhile in a big bowl mix evaporated milk with whole milk, whisk in sweetened condensed milk and incorporate 3 milks well. (whatever you can't get out of the sweetened condensed milk can don't worry grab a spoon and scoop it out and eat it as a treat for you ha ha)

(4)Once the rice absorbs all the water, slowly add 3 milks mixture and stir in , bring heat back to high heat, and stir every 5 minutes occasionally until milk comes to a raging boil with the rice.

Trust me at first it will feel like you added to much milk but the rice will absorb a lot of it and thicken with time.
(5)Lower heat to low and stir occasionally for about 10 minutes total. After 5 minutes of of boiling on low the rice should have absorbed some of the milk and thickened a bit, check if grains are tender, add in white sugar, stir well, taste and see if you want to add more sugar to taste.

(6)At this point let it cook an additional 5 minutes, add the butter towards the end, and add the raisins to stir until everything is well incorporated.


(7)Turn off heat and dust lightly with ground cinnamon. (Your probably wondering why I have 1 pot and 1 other ceramic filled with rice pudding the reason is my father and little sister do not like raisins, so before adding the raisins I set aside some without raisins for my Dad and sister and whomever else may want to eat it without raisins)

P.S.

This can be eaten as dessert at any temperature desired, it can be eaten hot, warm, room temp., or cold, it doesn't matter it's whatever you like. In hot day's I like it cold, in the winter I like it piping hot or warm. You can serve it in individual bowls and dust with cinnamon on those or like in my house we just make a big batch and everyone just get's their own bowl and goes help themselves. You can also eat this as a snack or heck even a big bowl for breakfast or late night meal ha ha.

Also, in case your wondering why I call my grandma "Tata" it's because she say's that's what they called grandmas in her family grandpa was called "Tato". I went to do some research and it came up that it's sometimes used in Madrid, Spain by some to refer to grandpa or grandma, it is used when the child is to young to properly say grandpa or grandma I think that's what came up, I don't know, some Cubans also call their grandma "Tata" and some Spaniards do to., I'm grown up well kinda and still call my grandmother "Tata" and she'd kill me if I called her anything else she say's "Abuela" (Grandma) or "Abuelita" (Granny) make her feel old.

REALLY IMPORTANT NOTE!:
*If you want to speed up the cooking time, while the rice is cooking with the water for about 25-30 minutes or so, you can mix the 3 milk mixtures and bring it to a boil then leave it on really low heat, that way when the rice has absorbed the water and you have to add the milk you won't have to wait long for the milk to come to a boil, after it boils you'll be done in like 10 more minutes.

*Well that's all I have to share for today :) Til next time ha ha.

Arroz Verde a Mi Manera (Green Rice my Way)

This is my recipe, I made it up myself. I have a Peruvian friend who would make "Arroz Verde", I really liked it so I would make her's sometimes, but I decided to completely adjust it to the taste of my household and make it "Cubanized" I guess one could call it "Arroz Verde Estilo Cubano" (Cuban style green rice?) It is very flavorful and delicous, it's a very simple side dish.

I do mine in a rice cooker you can adjust it to do it stove top.

Ingredients:
-3 cups long grain white rice
-1 big bunch of cilantro (cleaned well, but with stems and all)
-1 onion finely minced
-1 green bell pepper finely minced
-5-6 cloves garlic finely minced (I use a mortar and pestle most of the time or garlic press)
-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1/2 teaspoon finely ground fresh black pepper
-2 teaspoons salt
-1/4-1/2 tsp. monosodium glutamine (msg... it's optional popular brand is Ajinamoto)

Directions:
(1)Heat olive oil on medium high heat, sautee onion and bell pepper 5 minutes, add garlic sautee 2 minutes. Meanwhile blend cilantro in a blender with 1 cup water. When garlic is fragrant, add the blended cilantro and stir well bring to boil.



(2)Meanwhile, now wash rice well drain, and add to rice cooker, throw in the stuff you sauteed, add salt, cumin, pepper, and msg stir well, add water necessary to cook rice.

NOTES:
(1)Water may vary I use a long-grain jasmine rice that is new crop it only needs equal water to rice. Regular long-grain white rice needs no more than 1 1/2 cups water per cup. Also don't forget the water in the blended cilantro counts to.

(2)For the original "Peruvian version" you only use cilantro ,garlic, onion, and Peruvian yellow pepper, and season with only salt, black pepper, and msg. Sometimes they will use chicken stock.

(3)This rice tastes fabulous with some fried eggs on top.

(4)If doing on stove top, make the sautee in a large pot, and add blended cilantro, spices and water, bring to a boil and add washed, add drained clean rice stir once, cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes.