Arroz Con Pollo

A couple of days ago I made Arroz Con Pollo. I used two recipes as a guide but cooked with what I had on hand. The chicken was beautifully seasoned,  moist and a lovely color. The flavor was amazing, even better the second day. The rice ... well ... it needs work. All I had was long grain brown rice, and well 90% of it was cooked nice and fluffy but there was the 10% that just did not cook properly. So I plan to try again soon with white rice or converted brown rice. The flavor makes it worthy of some more experiementing.

Arroz Con Pollo

Serves 8

1/4 tsp black pepper

1-1/2 tsp sazón seasoning

1 tsp oregano

2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, each cut into 2 pieces

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 onions, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 oz can diced green chiles

8 Spanish olives stuffed with red peppers

1 teaspoon capers

1 small can tomato sauce

2 cups brown rice

4 cups chicken broth

1 orange bell pepper, cut into strips 

Combine black pepper, sazon and oregano, season chicken on both sides. In a 3-1/2 quart or larger dutch oven, brown the chicken in the oil, 5 minutes each side. Brown in batches if necessary, do not crowd the pot. Remove chicken from the pot and set aside.

To the same pot, add onions, garlic, green chiles, olives, capers and tomato sauce. Mix well and cook this mixture for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the broth to the pot and stir well to combine. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the chicken and rice. Arrange the peppers on top. Lower the heat to low. Cover and continue to cook over low heat for another 50 minutes or until the rice is tender. Stir from bottom to top a couple of turns during this time. Turn the heat off and let sit 15 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve.

Sazón means "seasoning" in Spanish. In Puerto Rico, it also refers to a seasoned salt that is used everywhere in Puerto Rican cooking. The seasonings add not only flavor, but also a subtle orange hue to many dishes. I like using annatto, it has a brighter flavor. Paprika is earthier in flavor.



Sazon shown with
Annatto Seeds 



Sazón

Source: WW pal CrissyBear

Makes 5 Tbsps

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground annatto seeds (or paprika)

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon salt

Mix all of the ingredients together and store the sazón in an airtight container. It will keep fresh for about 3 months.

In recipes, use about 1 1/2 teaspoons for each packet of sazón.