Ambrosian Arroz con Pollo | Chicken and Rice

If you don't speak cuban, Arroz con Pollo means chicken and rice. However, when you envision chicken and rice in English, nothing exciting happens. When you think of the chicken swimming in a sea of yellow short-grain rice morsels and immersed in a sofrito-based soupy sauce, then you think Arroz con Pollo [a-rrrrrr (roll the rrr-like a puttering engine sound)-os cone po-yo] Sound it out and trust me you'll want to order it one day, it not just chicken and rice.

To begin get your chicken cooking in some boiling water.

Then make the sofrito!

Dice and sweat onions.

Dice the sweet peppers.

Toss the peppers in with the sweating onions.

Stir-in the peppers with onions.

Peel, dice and add garlic.

Add fresh Culantro.

Check your chicken and grab a bag of Valencia rice, if you have another short grain rice that is fine.

Chicken is ready to take out of the water. Remove, ensuring it is cooked and ladle in the water the chicken was boiling in, now chicken stock, into the rice water, just enough to dampen it, do not fully cover with stock, just a few ladles.

Now start shredding your chicken. Return to the rice every couple of minutes to give it a stir and add more stock if needed. Make sure it's not sticking at the bottom.

When the rice has now become opaque we will add a packet of Sazón Completa, stir and more chicken stock to send the chicken swimming in. Conserve 1/3 of the chicken for plating later.

Let all the flavors simmer into the chicken and rice for about ten minutes. When they are absorbed add chicken bone broth and parsley. Stir well and let that come to swimming simmer.

After about ten minutes you are ready to plate. I put a layer of the rice and chicken. A layer of the shredded chicken and another layer or rice. Top with sweet paprika powder and drizzle with olive oil!