Hola! Hello! I’m going to explain how to make the traditional cuban dish arroz con pollo. Its 1 of my favorite dishes to make and i have the most fun doing it when I know I’m making it for people that I love. So get out your spoons, plates, forks, pots, and your appetite and let’s start this journey together.

Step 1: All the right parts

Make sure you have all the right things that you need to make this dish.

You will need:

- A traditional rice pot (you can’t use just any pot it has to be a pot specifically for rice, you can find 1 in most supermarkets. If not then try to go to a culinary store, they would more then likely have them)

- 1 package of chicken cutlet

- Sazon (found in most supermarkets in the spanish or hispanic section)

- Adobo con pimiento (pimiento is pepper in spanish, this is also found in most supermarkets in the spanish or hispanic section)

- Red and Green Peppers (if you want to add all the colors then that’s fine as well)

- A Spanish onion

- Extra Virgin Olive Oil

- Green Olives

- White rice

- Metal spoon with holes

- Corn. (Fresh corn is prefferable but in the can is fine also)

- A smile and a great positive attitude and some great Spanish music to get you pumped up to make this great dish!

Step 2: Starting the chicken

What you want to do is take out your cutting board and try to cut the chicken cutlet into thin slices. Not too thin that you have too much chicken but not too thick that when you get a bite of chicken it tastes like a chicken strip. Season the chicken cutlet before you start anything else. Season the chicken cutlet with a package of Sazon, about 2 table spoons of Adobo con Pimiento, and some garlic powder if you like for flavor. Leave it in the refrigerator for about 15 mins so the chicken can absorb the flavors. (if you want the chicken to get more flavors then its best if you season the chicken and leave it overnight in the refrigerator). Now what I like to do is grill the chicken. Grilled chicken is much better for you and you don’t have all the fat left on the chicken plus all the added oil. I use my George Foreman grill to cook the chicken because its much quicker. You know the chicken is done when you see that there are dark lines on the chicken itself. What you want to do is cut the chicken into cubes and place it in a bowl on the side. And there’s your grilled chicken.

Step 3: Preparing the ingredients

Make sure you do not use the same knife and cutting board for the veggies. Always use different knives and cutting board, 1 especially for meat and another especially for veggies. Take your pepper and onion and make sure they’re rinsed with water. Now to make sure you don’t get the seeds from the pepper what you want to do is cut thru the pepper from the crown. If you look at the top of the pepper you’ll see the stem, what you want to do is cut around it but let your knife cut straight thru to the bottom of the pepper. Once you’ve done that then you can scoop out the top and bottom and most of the seeds will still be attached to the middle of the pepper. Now, you’ll want to cut the pepper into strips and then into cubes and place the red and green peppers in a seperate bowl from the chicken, if you prefer that. Its time for onion cutting! Not the most favorite part of any chef’s preparation but it is a necessary one in this case. Its easiest to peel the onion when you cut the two ends off. After that all you really need is half the onion. If you like a lot of onion in your arroz con pollo then you can use the whole onion, but I prefer half the onion. You can cut it into big thick chunks or small cubes, whatever your heart desires. Place the onion with the peppers and then place the corn in another bowl, and get ready to start the rice!

Step 4: Cooking the seasoning

For this part you will need to pay very close attention to the ingredients you add into the pot, they can burn quickly and easily if you do not pay attention. Some people would tell you to let the pot warm up but I don’t just because I like to make sure that I have added all the proper ingredients before I start the cooking process. Put about 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in the pot, then open a package of sazon and place it straight into the olive oil. Then you will take about 3 teaspoons of adobo con pimiento and add that as well. Open the jar for the green olives and add a few to the pot. If you desire more olives, gladly add it to the pot, if you don’t like that many then only add a couple. Remember cooking is all about your taste and your palette so go crazy! After you have added your olives take a teaspoon and mix everything together so it looks like an orange paste almost. Take a teaspoon and take a small taste of the orange paste, if it taste salty enough for your tongue to handle then that is good, if its so salty that you have to cringe then you might have to add some more olive oil just to simmer down the strong flavor. You can then turn on the flame to about a medium, not too much flame or else it will over cook the seasoning. Once you see the seasoning starting to bubble up, lower the flame quickly and add the peppers, onion, corn, and chicken to the pot. Keep it at a low flame and take a giant bowl and get ready to clean the rice!

Step 5: Cleaning rice

I like to use Carolina rice. You can find it in most supermarkets but my favorite kind of rice is brown rice. Not too many people like it but I love it and its very good for you as well. You can use either kind of rice you want, its all up to you. Put about 2 or 3 cups of rice depending on how many people you will be serving. Usually if there’s 2 people I add about 1 and a half cups of rice. If its more then 5 then I add about 6 or 7, but once again it all depends on  you. When you have added your rice into the bowl then take it over to the sink and add cold water to the rice. Drain some water and repeat this 2 more times. Now you are ready to add the rice.

Step 6: Adding and Watching

Check the pot and stir everything around to make sure all the ingredients are covered in the orange paste. Now its time to add the rice. Pour the rice into the pot and add some water til you can’t see the rice anymore. My trick that I use everytime I make rice is this. You take a teaspoon and stir everything around then you place the teaspoon the center of the pot, if the teaspoon falls over then you probably have too much ingredients and have to add more water or vice versa. But if the spoon stands straight up you have everything even. After my spoon trick, take the pot cover and place it on the pot, set your timer for 15 minutes and raise the flame to a medium flame. Sit back and relax.

Step 7: Checking and waiting

After the 15 minutes are up you should see one of two things. You should either see water still in the pot which means you need to keep it covered longer, or you will see no water but moist rice which means you can now take the cover off the rice. Take the metal spoon and make sure to stir in this motion, Bottom to top, bottom to top, and around the edge. When you stir this way it ensures that the uncooked rice on the bottom of the pot will be cooked properly and evenly. Add another 10 minutes to the timer and after they’re up stir the rice again and take a tablespoon and taste the rice. If you feel the rice getting stuck in your teeth it is not done yet, but if it is nice and moist (not too moist) then you can turn off the flame and enjoy your newest cooking feast.

CONGRATULATIONS AND ENJOY YOUR WONDERFUL MEAL!