I have been a fan of my grandmother’s cooking for as long as I can remember. Anyone that knows her knows she’s the queen of the kitchen. Everything from birthday cakes to intricate meals, she’s done it all. Everyone that knows her also knows that she’d give you the stink eye of you did not like her cooking, which was a rarity. Usually it would my my friends from school who were not used to her latin style cooking who would not enjoy the beautiful plates she would create when they would come over. I always mocked them and would say “psh, your loss!”. Now as an adult, I am so happy and proud to have inherited my grandmother’s love of cooking. Which is why I decided to launch this portion of my blog. I want to share my home cooked family meals with you; and what better way to do that than to do it with my grandmother’s classic, arroz con pollo. I hope you try this and love it as much as we do!
Arroz Con Pollo
2 large chicken breasts or 3-4 legs
1.5 cups of rice
1 large carrot
1 medium onion
1 large tomato or 2 medium
½ large red pepper
3 garlic cloves
2 green onions
cilantro – to taste (optional)
cumin 1/2 Tbsp and a few pinches to season the chicken
salt and pepper to taste-and a few pinches to season the chicken
1 chicken flavored Bouillon Cube
1 Tbsp of oregano
1 Tbsp of paprika-and a few pinches to season the chicken
2 bay leafs
olive oil drizzle
3 cups of water
Wash then cut the chicken in cubes or leave whole. Season the chicken (pepper, paprika, cumin, salt). Heat up a drizzle of oil to medium heat and when it’s hot add the seasoned chicken to the pan. Keep it on the pan until the chicken is golden; turning on all its sides.
Wash then cut up all veggies into small pieces (cubed or in slices). Once the chicken is golden, add veggies to the hot pan with the chicken. Cook until they are almost soft, 3-5 mins.
Wash and rinse the rice. I like to let it air dry but you can pat dry before adding it to the pan. Add the spices on top of the rice and mix it, making sure it all gets evenly “colored”. Always add spices to your taste, you can add as much or as little as you’d like.
Mix all the veggies, chicken and rice together. Let the rice sit in the pan for 3-5 minutes so it can soak up all the flavors before adding any water.
Add Bouillon Cube to a couple of tablespoons of warm water and mix until dissolved.
Add water and the Bouillon mix to the pan, covering all the rice. Add bay leaves to the center of the pan. Cover and reduce to low medium heat and cook for 20 minutes. Do not uncover while the rice cooks.
Once rice is thoroughly cooked, taste to see if more salt or any other spices are needed. Fluff the rice and serve. Make sure to take out any bay leaves you put in. The bay leaves are to add taste while it cooks and are not meant to be eaten.
Enjoy!
