Arroz con Pollo

Today, we are making Arroz con Pollo, english translation "chicken and rice," but please please resist the temptation to call this chicken and rice. This is Spanish Arroz con Pollo. If my gringo husband can finally learn to call it arroz con pollo, you can too.

This is my mother's recipe, and it probably goes back several generations. Getting recipes from my mom is a lot like pulling teeth. She cooks from instinct, so when giving amounts, she says "oh, you know...a little bit of this..." or "as much as it looks like it needs..." After a few trials and lots of errors, I finally got the recipe just right and somehow made it my own. Please enjoy, and feel free to add your own twist too.


Here is what you will need:



Step 1: Heat the pan on medium-high heat with 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil. Chop 1 medium onion and add to the pan when the oil is hot. Sprinkle a generous amount of garlic powder all over the chopped onion (see step 6; I forgot to add the garlic powder in Step 1).



Step 2: Chop up 1 small tomato and add it the pan.



Step 3: Add 1 chicken bouillon cube and 1 packet of saffron.




Stir it around, and it will look nice and yellow like this.



Step 4: Chop up a couple of small carrots and one small red pepper, and throw them in the pan. Stir.




Step 5: Now chop up 1 pound of chicken tenderloins, and once the vegetables have softened, add the chicken to the pan. Continue to move the chicken and vegetables around, so they don't burn.




Step 6: Everyone makes mistakes...I got a little distracted with the photo taking and forgot to add the garlic powder in the first step, so I tossed it all over the chicken. Ideally, you would it add it at the same time as the onion. Whether it is in Step 1 or Step 6, sprinkle a generous amount.





Step 7: Once the chicken has browned, add 1 cup of rice, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt over the entire dish, and then add about 3/4ths of a small can of peas to the dish. After letting the rice soak up the flavors for a little less than a minute, I add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of white wine. The older the wine, the better. Turn the heat down to medium.





Step 8: After about 20 minutes, I needed to add another 3/4 cups of water because the water was almost soaked up, and the rice wasn't quite ready. And then, for good measure, after 10 more minutes, I tossed a 1/4 cup of wine (my mother would dissaprove,but I love the flavor of wine).
If the rice still seems a little dry, maybe add another 1/4 cup of water. It really shouldn't need more than that. I let it simmer for another ten minutes until the water was completely absorbed, and then, it was ready to serve!






List of ingredients:

1 lb of chicken tenderloins (no more than 1 lb--we've determined, that's too much)
3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 medium onion
1 chicken bouillon cube
2-3 carrots
1 small tomato
1 small red pepper
1 packet of saffron
1 small can of sweet peas
garlic powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of rice
1 cup of old white wine