Rice with Carrots (Arroz con Zanahoria)

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Rice toasted in oil with onion, garlic and carrot, then cooked in broth. Two cups of rice to four of liquid, half an hour, and the toasting is what keeps the grains separate.

Prep Time5

Cook Time30

Total Time35

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: rice with carrots

Servings:

Calories: 403kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

Ingredients

2 cups white rice
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth or water
1 cup carrot diced or grated
Oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat a little oil in a pot and fry the finely chopped garlic and onion, then add the carrot, diced or grated.
Fry it briefly, then add the rice. Stir it through the oil until every grain is coated and turns from chalky white to slightly translucent.
Carry on frying everything for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring now and then so nothing burns.
Add the broth, salt and pepper, and a little more oil if you want it, and stir.
Bring it to a boil over high heat. When the liquid has fallen to the level of the rice and craters appear on the surface, cover the pot, turn the heat low and let it cook for another 15 minutes.
Take it off the heat, let it rest a few minutes, fluff the rice with a fork and serve immediately.

Notes

Two cups of rice to four of liquid is the ratio, and it is the one thing not to improvise with. Toasting the rice in oil before the liquid arrives is worth the three or four minutes it takes. Each grain gets a coat of fat, which keeps them separate instead of letting them clump, and the brief toasting adds a flavour you cannot get any other way. The Spanish verb for it is nacarar, to pearl, because the grain goes from chalky to translucent as it happens. Cover it when the liquid falls to the level of the rice, not when the pot is dry. Waiting for a dry pot means the bottom layer has already started to stick. Craters appearing on the surface are the signal. Then fifteen minutes with the lid on and no peeking: the trapped steam is what cooks the top of the rice.

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