Sunday, March 27, 2011

Arroz Con Pollo




I don't know why I wrote Chicken and Rice in spanish for the title of this blog post. It is definitely not the traditional Latino style chicken and rice recipe. I guess my thought process was that Arroz Con Pollo sounds more exciting than Chicken and Rice.




Actually....it does!



This Chicken and Rice recipe is one of my new favorites.

In the words of my mother, who gave me the Death Stare when she thought I ate the last of this dish......."After taking my first bite, I stared into the heavens and thanked God for this meal!"

Really.....that's what she told me.

It is packed with flavor. Fresh lime, ginger, mustard seeds, whole coriander. I could have eaten a whole pot of this flavorful rice, without the chicken. The chicken was the icing on the cake.

I wish I could drive a few miles down the road, to a farm and pick out a fresh chicken. The writers of my 3 favorite food blogs will sometimes write about going to a farm to get fresh vegetables, fruits, and sometimes even chicken! Tartelette , one of my favorites, just blogged about living near the water, checking on her crab traps, and going to the marina to pick up some freshly caught fish.

After reading their blogs, I day-dream about living on a farm.

Really, I do.

But then reality hits, and I know that I am not about to wake up at the crack of dawn to feed the chickens, and the cows, and the goats, and whatever other animals I may have....AND dig holes to plant seeds.

So then I begin to day dream about living next to a big farm, where I can walk down the road and buy my fresh food.

Yes...this sounds much more achievable.


FRESH FOOD.

That's the life.


Oh, and did you know that the skin on a fresh chicken is yellow, because the yellow feathers have just been plucked off? I didn't know this tidbit of information, until I watched Luke Nguyen's Vietnamese cooking show on the internet (BY THE WAY, I LOVE EVERY SINGLE MEAL HE MAKES ON HIS SHOW).

Now, every time I look at my white-skinned chicken, I get a little sad inside. Not really, but kind of!

Enjoy the recipe. A VIDEO OF HOW TO MAKE THIS DISH WILL BE POSTED BY WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY!



Arroz Con Pollo, Chicken and Rice, or Whatever You Want to Call It!

2 pounds chicken, wings, legs, thighs, or breasts
2-4 tablespoons olive oil, or any oil
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons tandoori powder
2 tablespoons of tika masala powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
3 cloves garlic
1 inch piece of ginger
1 lime, zested and peeled.
1 small bunch of cilantro
1 shallot
1/2 of a jalapeno, seeded
1 teaspoon whole coriander (or powder if you can't find whole)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
4 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 1/2 cups basmati rice, soaked in water
4 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Season the chicken with the garlic powder, tandoori, tika masala, and chili powder. Marinate over night, or at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a blender, food processor, or with a knife, blend (or chop) the garlic, ginger, lime zest, lime, cilantro, shallot, jalepeno, coriander, mustard seeds, and cardamom. If using a blender of food processor, add a little oil to loosen the mixture. Mix to a paste.

Heat a large skillet, add about 2 tablespoons of the oil, and brown the chicken. Brown the chicken in batches. Do not crowd the pan, or else the chicken will not brown, it will boil. Once the chicken is browned, set aside.

In the same skillet, add a little more oil, and add the cilantro/ginger paste that you made. Cook for about 1 minute. Add the rice (drained rice, not with the soaking water). Cook for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Add the cinnamon stick and the chicken stock. Add the browned chicken. Make sure the chicken is mixed in well with everything. You may need to transfer all of this to a bigger pot.

Bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover the skillet, or pot, with a lid, or aluminum foil if you can't find the lid! Place the in the oven and cook for approximately 3o minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked. This will depend on which part of the chicken you used (for example, wings cook much faster than thighs because they are smaller).

I ate mine with a little naan and a salad. I topped my chicken and rice with chopped tomato and some chopped jalapeno (I love spicy food)!

3 comments:

  1. This is one of the best chicken and rice recipes I've seen. It sounds delicious and I love the slightly green color of the rice. Looking forward to the video!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This dish looks delicious and your photography is wonderful. Yes, the title in Spanish sounds much cooler than english (sigh). I read that same post on Tartlette. I had the exact same follow up thoughts. I'll have to live through blogging and reading other people's farm lives!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Snippets of thyme, at least I'm not the only one living through other people who blog about farm lives!

    Jaime, Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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