How to Cook Arroz Con Pollo

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients needed to make arroz con pollo:

• 2 cups white rice, rinsed and drained
• 6 chicken thighs
• 1 ½ lb roma tomatoes, halved
• ½ cup fresh peas
• ½ cup carrots, diced
• ½ medium onion, peeled
• ½ cup fresh corn
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped for garnishing
• 12 tsp mild chili powder
• 2 tbsp grapeseed or any other vegetable oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Cooking instructions for arroz con pollo:

• Add the tomatoes, onion and garlic to a blender and pour in 1 ½ cups water.
• Pulse them into a smooth puree and transfer it to a fine mesh strainer.
• Strain out the juices from the puree and press the residues firmly to extract as much seasoned liquid as possible; set the strained liquid aside and throw away the solids.
• Drizzle 2 tbsp oil in a non-stick stock pot and heat it over high flame.
• Add the rice and saute it for about 10-15 minutes, while stirring relentlessly, until the grains slightly turns golden in colour. Make a point to avoid excessive browning or burning the rice while doing so.
• Measure the strained liquid in cups and pour about 3 cups of it over the rice.
• Throw in the carrots, peas as well as corn and sprinkle a dash of salt over the mixture; stir them all together until distributed evenly and cook briefly while you prepare the chicken.
• Season the chicken thighs with salt and sprinkle chili powder over them.
• Arrange the seasoned chicken thighs on top of the veggie-rice mixture and top it up with 3 more cups of the strained tomato liquid. In case, it falls short of 3 cups, stir in some water to meet the measurement.
• Heat the mixture until it starts boiling and then lower the heat to low.
• Simmer the mixture, covered , over moderately low heat for an hour or until all of the liquid is imbibed into the rice and the latter is cooked through yet firm.
• While cooking, check the rice after half an hour and add a cup of water if it looks too dry.
• Once the rice, chicken and veggies are cooked through, remove from heat and spoon the rice on serving plates.
• Arrange the chicken thighs on the bed of rice and finish it off with a generous sprinkling of chopped cilantro.
• Serve hot.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons