Chicken cooked in a pressure cooker and shredded, rice cooked in the broth it left behind, and a hogao of tomato, onion and pepper stirred through at the end. Eight servings.
Measure the broth
The third instruction tells you to cook the rice in the water the chicken came out of, and stops there. With two pounds of rice in play, that is the one number the recipe cannot leave out.
Twice the volume of rice in liquid. Measure the rice into the pot, then measure double that from the chicken water. If the pressure cooker did not leave you enough, top it up with plain water rather than reducing the rice.
That broth is worth using carefully. It has oregano, cumin, salt and pepper in it and a kilo of chicken has simmered in it, so it is a proper stock rather than cooking water.
Three things, then one
Nothing in this recipe cooks together until the very end, and that is the point.
The chicken is pressure cooked and shredded. The rice is cooked separately in the chicken broth with the carrot and peas. The hogao is made in its own pan: tomato, onion, scallion, garlic and bell pepper softened, then a cup of tomato sauce.
Only then does everything go into one large pot and get stirred together, with the sweet corn added at that point.
The recipe's own note explains why, and it is right: cooked all together, the rice absorbs everything and turns sticky, and the vegetables go past soft. Kept apart, the grains stay separate and every element still tastes of itself.
Let the rice cool a little
The sixth step says to let the rice cool a bit before it meets the hogao, which looks like an unnecessary pause and is not.
Hot rice is soft and swollen. Stirred vigorously with a kilo of shredded chicken and a pan of hogao, the grains break and the whole thing turns to paste. A few minutes of cooling firms them enough to survive the mixing.
The hogao is what makes it Colombian
Five tomatoes, an onion, two scallion stalks, garlic and a red bell pepper, softened in a pan and finished with a cup of tomato sauce.
This is the base of a great deal of Colombian cooking and here it is the difference between arroz con pollo and rice with chicken stirred into it. Cook it until the tomato has properly collapsed rather than stopping when it looks soft.
More rice dishes
- Chicken and rice soup — the soup version.
- Colombian hogao — the sofrito on its own.
- Arroz con chorizo — with sausage.
- Paisa rice — from Antioquia.
- Yellow rice — the colour without the chicken.
Arroz con Pollo FAQ
Twice the volume of the rice. The recipe says to cook the rice in the water the chicken came out of and never gives an amount, which with two pounds of rice matters. Measure the rice, measure double that in broth, and top up with water if the pot did not give you enough.
So the rice stays loose. The recipe's own note says this: cooked all in one pot, the grains stick and the vegetables overcook. Rice in one pot, hogao in a pan, and everything combined at the end.
The Colombian sofrito: tomato, onion, scallion, garlic and bell pepper cooked down in a pan until soft, finished here with a cup of tomato sauce. It is what makes this arroz con pollo rather than rice with chicken in it.
No. It is what the recipe uses and it cuts the chicken to 15 or 20 minutes. In an ordinary pot, simmer the breast for about 30 minutes, until it shreds easily.
Because hot rice is soft and the grains break when everything is stirred together. A few minutes of cooling firms them up.
Yes, and the broth will be better for it. They need slightly longer and they shred just as easily.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1000 g chicken breast
- 2 lbs rice
- 1 large carrot (finely diced)
- 1 cup peas
- ½ cup sweet corn
- 5 tomatoes (finely chopped)
- 1 onion (finely chopped)
- 2 scallion stalks
- 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 red bell pepper (pimentón: the fresh vegetable, finely chopped)
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- A pinch of oregano and cumin
- Salt and pepper
Notas
Instructions
- Cook the chicken breast in a pressure cooker with water, a pinch of oregano, cumin, salt and pepper, for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Take the chicken out, let it cool and shred it with your fingers or a fork. Keep the cooking water.
- Cook the rice in that same water, measuring out twice as much liquid as rice. Add the carrot and the peas with a little salt and cook over high heat until the liquid falls to the level of the rice.
- Turn the heat down and cover the pot until the rice is done.
- Meanwhile, make the hogao. In a pan, sauté the tomatoes, onion, scallion, garlic and bell pepper. When everything is soft, add the tomato sauce.
- Once the rice is ready, let it cool a little.
- In a large pot, put the rice, the sweet corn, the shredded chicken and the hogao, and stir until everything is evenly combined.
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