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Arroz con Pollo


Course Main Course
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Chicken stock

  • 150 g white onion large chunks
  • 150 g peeled and cut carrots large chunks
  • 150 g celery large chunks
  • 2 bayleaves
  • bones from chicken breasts or 4 chicken wings
  • 2500 ml water

Arroz con pollo

  • as needed vegetable oil
  • 4 chicken breasts on bone, so the bones go to the stock
  • 150 g red onion finely cut in cubes
  • 3 garlic cloves grated or finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp Peruvian yellow chili paste If you get the actual chili, remove seeds and dunk it in boiling water for 10min. Then peel and blend with a bit of vegetable oil. You can get the paste ready in speciality stores.
  • 150 g carrots peeled and cut in small cubes
  • 80 g peas
  • 100 g coriander leaves about 250g with stalks
  • 500 g white rice ideally pre-grained
  • 1000 ml from the above stock
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 red pepper cut in strips, no white part

Instructions

Chicken stock

  1. Chop the bones up so they release extra flavour and put in a pot with all the ingredients and cold water. Time 2 hours from the moment it comes to a simmer. Don't let it go to a full boil so the fat and foam stays at the top and remove it.

  2. Pass through a sieve and measure the amount for the recipe. Any extras can be boiled to a minimum and saved in a ziplock bag or container in the freezer for further use as a concentrated stock.

Arroz con pollo

  1. Sear the chicken breasts in a bit of oil, just enough to lightly coat the base of the pot. Put enough chicken so that they have some space between each other. This way the pot won't decrease in temperature and they will turn nice and golden You also need to leave them still once you put them in so they can go golden. When you flip them season with salt and pepper.

  2. Put the skin inside as well as the fat it renders is full of flavour. Discard it afterwards. Remove the breasts once nicely seared.

  3. Add more oil if needed and sweat the onions until soft and translucent. Use the water from the onions to scrape the stuck bits of chicken from the pot; they are full of flavour!

  4. Add the garlic and chili paste and cook for a minute.

  5. Blend the coriander with enough water so it can be blended and a good pinch of salt. This fixes the green colour.

  6. Add the coriander and chicken stock to the onions. Let it simmer lightly and then also put the chicken breasts in for 10min. The stock should be slightly simmering. If it's boiling, the chicken breasts will go tough.

  7. Remove the chicken breasts and reserve. Add the rice, carrots and peas and wait for it to come back to a simmer. Taste the water for salt, it should be a bit more salty than you want it as the rice will soak it in and lower the seasoning level. Put the lid on and reduce the heat to minimum. Let the rice cook until no water is left, about 20-30min.

  8. Add the chicken breasts and pepper strips on top when the rice is 10min away from done and they will finish cooking with the vapour with the lid on.

  9. Once everything is done, mix everything in. For serving, I like to cut the chicken breast, it looks really nice.