I'm Only Here for the Food!

For as far as I can remember, my parents have told me a bit too much time on my hands is a bad thing. While I don’t remember doing any mischief nor they giving too much to keep myself busy (a contradiction in a way), they almost keep a check on what I was doing. Of course, I don’t live with them anymore yet that constant checking have made me self-conscious whenever I have a bit of extra time. Due to the crazy weather we had on the last couple of weeks, I did not go out that much and, yup, I had a bit of time. So, why not cook?

One dish I particularly liked to eat in Panama is arroz con pollo, literally, chicken rice. I never managed to master the Panamanian version of the recipe, mainly due to myself messing the proportion of some of the ingredients; my “version” usually ends up something on the lines of Spanish rice.

Still, the end result is quite good or so the people have tried it says… And here is my recipe.

First, the ingredients.

• 2 cups of rice. I used long grain basmati brown rice but you can use any rice.
• 8 pieces of chicken. I used tights because I like them more than breast.
• Medium onion, diced.
• Garlic, minced.
• Water/broth/stock.
• Tomato paste. (Optional, I usually use it; otherwise, it won’t be Spanish rice like!).

Notice that, for the liquid, I did not specify the amount. The reason is that, in my experience, how much liquid depends on the type of grain and how “old” is the rice. It can go anywhere from 1:1 to 2:1. In my case, I used 2:1, i.e., 2 cups of liquid per cup of rice. Also, I used stock because I had some left-over but you can use almost any liquid. In fact, once I used some diced tomato (with the “juice” as liquid). Of course, in this case, I skipped the tomato paste.

Finally, notice I mentioned I used brown rice. To those who have cooked it, knows it is a bit trickier to cook than regular, white rice. Though this recipe is for brown rice, I will add notes on how to do it with regular rice.

So here is the recipe:

First, start by putting the liquid on medium heat and pre-heat the oven at 375F (if not using rice cooker). Then,

Season the chicken with salt and pepper (had my mother did this, she would have marinated it in corn starch, oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, pepper and slices of ginger first). Once done, brown them in a hot cast-iron pot with some peanut oil. If cooking white rice in a rice cooker, you can do this step in a skillet.

Once browned (if using a rice cooker, rather than just browning, cook it a little bit more), put them aside. Remove excess fat, add a bit more of oil, onions and cook them. Half-way, add the ginger and cook them, stirring constantly until semi-translucent.

Add the rice and let it cook, stirring constantly. The idea here is to brown the rice. Do NOT leave it unattended as it might burn the rice! Anyway, if using tomato paste, add it after the rice is brown and, again, stir it.

Hopefully, at this point, the liquid should be boiling. If so, pour it into the pot with the rice mix. Be careful here, as the contact of the liquid with the pot will cause it to “burst”. Keep on stirring until it has “distributed”. Once done, add back the pieces of chicken, cover and put it in the pre-heated oven for around 40 to 50 minutes.

Of course, if doing it in a rice cooker, transfer the rice mix into it, place the chicken, add the liquid and cook as per instructions. That’s the reason why, if you are using a rice cooker, you should not just brown the chicken. Depending on the rice-cooker, it should be done in around 20 minutes but the chicken might not be completely cooked through.

40 minutes later and this is what we have! (Cook a bit more if you prefer “drier” rice). To serve, first removed the chicken and added some optional sweet peas previously thawed. Mixed them well and serve. In my case, while pre-heating the oven, I added some beets, which I then served along with the rice.

Of course, 2 cups of uncooked rice yields a lot of cooked rice. I had enough left-over for at least 3 other meals. However, you can easily scale back by cooking 1 cup rather than 2 (in that case, of course, proportionally scale the rest of the ingredients). And, there you go!