Arroz con Pollo: Chicken with Rice

Arroz con Pollo or Chicken with Rice is a traditional spanish dish that is eaten in many Latin American countries. While there is a dispute on where the recipe came from Puerto Rico or Spain, there is a pretty strong feeling that the history goes back to the Moorish times in Spain in the 8th century. Since this time Arroz con Pollo has become a popular dish in countries such as Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Cuba, Costa Rica, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic. To look more into the history of the dish check out this page. 

To prepare Arroz con Pollo you will need a large stew pot, a blender, a rice cooker, and the following ingredients:

• 2 tbs. vegetable oil 
• 1 medium red onion minced 
• 1 tbs. garlic paste or one garlic clove minced 
• 1/2 tsp. pepepr
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. oregano 
• 1 1/2 tbs. salt
• 2 bundles of cilantro (when mixed with half a cup of water and blended it came out to be about 3-3 1/2 cups of liquid)
• 1 tbs. ají amarillo sauce 
• 10 portions of chicken 
• 4 cups of water
• 1/2 lbs. peas
• 1 carrot
• 2 husks choclo (you can also use about 2/3 cups of frozen white corn if you need, you may be able to find choclo at a local mexican grocery store)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 3 cups rice 

First make mince your onion and fry it in a large pot with 2-3 tbs. of oil for about 4 minutes on a medium to high heat. Next add in the cumin, oregano, pepper, and garlic and fry for another 2 minutes.  

 You will then need to blend the cilantro and half a cup of water together in a blender.

Once mixed add this mixture and a table spoon of ají amarillo sauce to the pot with the other ingredients and stir everything together until the liquid evaporates and you are left with something looking like the picture below.

Next you will add your chicken and mix it around for a minute or two, making sure the chicken gets well coated in the sauce. 

Then add 4 cups of water and the salt, mix, and let it cook for about 8 minutes. 

Next you will need to add your peas, carrots, and corn. Before adding the corn you will want to cut it off the husk and cut the carrots into small pieces. The type of corn we use is called choclo and it can often be found in Mexican food stores or you can use white corn as a substitute. 

After adding in the vegetables again put on the top of your pot and let it cook for another 6-8 minutes. 

Then you will need to drain the water from the chicken and vegetables to use for preparing the rice. Set the vegetables and chicken aside while you prepare the rice. 

If you have a rice cooker that is the best way to prepare the rice but if not use a pot on the stove. To prepare the rice first put 3 cups of rice in the rice cooker and then add the chicken broth liquid from the chicken mixture into the rice cooker as well. Ideally 1 cup of the 4 cups of the water added before will have now evaporated and you will have three cups of chicken broth liquid to add to the rice. With the rice and broth also dice the red pepper and add it into the rice cooker. 

Let the rice cook for the allotted time needed and once it is done add the vegetables that you had set aside, mix everything together, and let sit for about 5 minutes to warm everything up again. 

Finally serve a healthy portion of rice and a portion of chicken on each plate and enjoy! 

Overall I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope you try this recipe out yourself! If you do enjoy what you see please help by sharing it with other people. There is a Facebook page where you can follow along by clicking on the Facebook button on the righthand side of this page and you can also follow this blog as well. Also if you are an avid Pinterest user than please "Pin It" and share this recipe with other food lovers! And if anyone does prepare this dish readers love to read comments about how it went so please leave a comment here on the blog and post a picture of your final dish on the Facebook page. Happy Cooking! 

Ají Amarillo: Peruvian Hot Sauce

Raw ají amarillo peppers

Adding in the oregano, pepper, and cumin

Time to remove from heat

Adding a bit of water and salt before mixing

The Amazing Lucy finishing off the Ají Sauce

Bon appetite

Today marks the first recipe shared on the blog! I have to say after the launch of the site yesterday I was pretty happy to see that within 24 hours there were over 140 views from 19 countries, thanks to everyone who was a part of that first day! That aside we are now going to look at how to make ají amarillo, a typical Peruvian hot sauce. Since my first day in Lima I have been in love with this salsa and I put it on almost everything! If you are a spicy food lover this will definitely be a recipe you will need to try!

Ají is a native Peruvian pepper from the andes and many Peruvian dishes use it to add extra flavor and color. While I love to have a strong and spicy ají sauce it is not necessary to make it super hot. In a one-line description of the importance of ají in Peruvian cuisine I will share a quote from a blog I was reading that states, "Ají is the soul to Peruvian food." I don't know about you but learning how to cook with soul sounds pretty good, so why not give this recipe a try and see what happens! 

One warning is that ají is a native pepper to Peru so you will probably not find it in stores in the United States or other countries. The best bet is going to a whole-foods store and crossing your fingers that they have them. If they don't then I have read that habaneros are a good substitution for the spice lovers, serranos are also a decent substitute, or any other medium heat pepper that you enjoy. While the taste will not be exact to the Peruvian flavor I am sure the sauce will still taste delicious! After experimenting yourself please report back with your findings!

For this recipe all you will need the following:

• 6 ají amarillo (or varied amounts of your substitute to taste)
• 1 large onion
• 1 clove of garlic (or a garlic paste if you prefer)
• About 1/4 tbs. of pepper (Lucy said for pepper, cumin, and oregano it is more of seasoning to taste so you may want to change these amounts after tasting it)
• About 1/4 tbs. of cumin
• About 1/4 tbs. of oregano 
• 1 tbsp. of salt
• Enough oil to fry ingredients

First off you will need to chop up the ají peppers, onion, and garlic. If you like you can gut the seeds of the peppers and peel them in order to have a smoother sauce but at my house we don't do either. If you want to peal the peppers put them in a hot water bath first and then afterward peel off the skin. After your raw ingredients are chopped put them in a median frying pan over a medium heat with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. After adding the ají, garlic, and onion add the pepper, oregano, and cumin as well. Continue to stir all these ingredients as they sweat in the frying pan for about 8-10 minutes in order to help bring out the flavor. The third photo above is what our ingredients looked like when we took them off the heat. Once you take the pan off the heat let it sit until the contents are relatively cool, this may take 20-30 minutes. After your ingredients have cooled down put them into a blender with a little bit of added water to help with mixing purposes and then add your salt. Finally turn on the blender and watch as your ingredients turn into the delicious ají sauce! Once you feel your sauce is well mixed turn off the blender, take a taste, and experience the mind-blowing taste of ají! This recipe should make about 2 small containers similar to the laste photo. 

Well folks I hope you enjoy getting down to business and making your ají sauce because it will add amazing flavor to many meals to come! As always please share this link on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and whatever other social media sites you are plugged into. Also if you are a student studying abroad in another country please leave a comment below if you are interested in doing a guest post! For those of you that do make the ají sauce please share your experience with us on how it went! Best of luck!