Arroz caldoso de pollo

Soupy rice with chicken

90 min

This dish was inspired by our winter trip to Valencia, Spain. One day we had an amazing lunch with lobster in brothy rice. We like it much more than paella, and we wanted to have a similar recipe that we could cook at home (minus the lobster). This is arroz caldoso de pollo (soupy rice with chicken), and it’s made of a few simple ingredients, a bunch of spices, and cooks in one pot. Still, it has enough flavor and warmth to make a whole family happy.

Ingredients

Yields 6 portions

6 chicken thighs
1 onion
1 chile
4 cloves of garlic
2 tomatoes
1 green bell pepper
1 few tablespoons tomato paste
250 ml of white wine
optional
1½ l of water
boiled
15 g of almond meal
250 g of rice
bomba or other short or medium grain rice
olive oil
salt
freshly ground coriander seeds
curcuma powder
ground nutmeg

You will need

Dutch oven with a lid

Directions

Rinse and dry the chicken.
Cover the bottom of the Dutch oven with olive oil, and warm up to medium-high heat.
Place the chicken skin side down in the Dutch oven, sprinkle with salt, and cook until the skin is brown and crispy, for 10–15 minutes.
While the chicken is browning, prepare the vegetables.
Onions: peel, halve, and cut into 1/2 cm slices. Garlic: crush, and peel. Chile: remove the root, halve, remove the seeds, and thinly slice.
Bell pepper: halve, remove the root and the seeds, and cut into 1 cm squares.
Tomatoes: halve, remove the roots, and cut into 1/2 cm pieces.
Reduce the heat to medium, flip the chicken, add the onions, garlic, and chiles, add the freshly ground coriander seeds, and cook for a few minutes, until the onions are softened and transparent.
Add the bell peppers, and cook for a few more minutes.
Add the tomatoes, and the tomato paste, and cook for a few more minutes.
Add wine, and cover everything with water (the water should be about 3 cm higher than the food), increase the heat to high, add the curcuma powder, ground nutmeg, and a bit more salt, and bring to a boil.
Lower the heat to medium and simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes, until the chicken is fork tender and the liquid reduced a bit.
Add the rice, and the almond meal. Cook uncovered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice is almost tender.
Remove the Dutch oven from the heat, and let it rest covered for about 5 minutes.

Notes & tips

The easiest way to peel garlic is to smash it: put a clove of garlic on a cutting board, put your chef’s knife on top of it so the blade side lays on the clove, and hit the side of the knife with your hand. Now you could peel the clove.

This recipe is based on Mission Food Adventure’s Arroz caldoso de pollo (soupy rice with chicken) recipe.

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