If you have ever heard anything about Colombia (it's NOT called Columbia!), aside from reports on the news that talk about drug dealing and guerrilla attacks, is that this country is home of beautiful landscapes and cities, jovial and friendly people, and also varied and delicious food. Here, I'd like to share with you a very common recipe from my country that you can share with your family, friends or even bring at potlucks. Surprise your guests by saying: "Hey look, I made a Colombian dish: rice with chicken!"
Ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts (unfrozen)
- 2 mugs of white rice
- 1 mug of green peas
- 1 mug of chopped carrots
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 1/2 yellow or red onions (of the bulb kind)
- 2 spoonfuls of cooking oil
- Salt to taste
- Water
Utensils:
- 1 frying pan
- 2 saucepans
- 1 large plate
- 1 large spoon (preferably wooden)
- 1 fork
Optional: Rice cooker
Your very first step is to chop the carrots, tomatoes and one of the onions into little squares. The other half onion can just be sliced. Then you have to put the two chicken breasts in one of the saucepans and fill it with water until they are totally covered. Sprinkle a bit of salt and add the sliced half onion to the water. Proceed to cook the breasts with the stove on high for 45 minutes or so. The chicken will be ready once its flesh has turned white and tender (you can check it out using the fork).
Meanwhile, while the breasts are cooking, put two mugs of rice in the other saucepan, along with the green peas and chopped carrots. Add four mugs of water into the saucepan, a bit of salt to taste, and one spoonful of cooking oil. Now put the stove on high; once the water starts boiling, turn the stove to medium fire. After 40 minutes or so in total, the mix will be ready once most of the water has dried up, and the rice gets a soft texture. Turn the stove to very low heat to keep the rice warm and stir it a bit with the spoon. On a side note, if you can use a rice cooker instead of a regular saucepan, you just put the previously mentioned ingredients in the cooker, turn it on, and leave it to do its job. Using a rice cooker, your rice mix will be ready on 35 minutes approximately.
Once the breasts are ready, put them on the plate using your fork and let them cool down for 10 minutes. Once the breasts can be touched (no pun intended), shred them with your hands, putting the bones apart.
Now, you are going to make a stew (guiso) on your frying pan. Put the other spoonful of oil on the pan, add the chopped tomatoes and onions, the shredded breasts and a bit of salt. Put the stove on medium and let the stew cook, stirring with the spoon every now and then. Do this for 10 minutes or so. Once its ready, add the whole stew to the saucepan with the rice, and mix everything thoughtfully. Y listo! A saucepan full of delicious rice with chicken will be ready for you to serve to your guests. You can accompany it with fried potatoes or fried plantain slices, salad and ketchup.
As a variation, you can try cooking the chicken breasts first (with the salt and sliced onion) and using 4 mugs of the resulting chicken broth instead of water for cooking the rice mix. This will intensify the chicken flavor of the rice. Also, if you wish to make this recipe healthier, you can replace the white rice with brown rice, provided you use 6-7 mugs of water/broth instead of 4; also, it would be better to replace the commercial cooking oil with extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil.
Buen provecho!
Written by Santiago Madrigal
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