Valencian Rice (Arroz a la Valenciana)

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The Latin American arroz a la valenciana: chicken browned separately, a sofrito of onion, garlic, carrot and mushrooms simmered down with white wine, and saffron-coloured rice folded through at the end. It is a cousin of Spanish paella rather than the same dish: the rice is cooked apart, not in the broth. Serves four.

Prep Time15

Cook Time45

Total Time1

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: Valencian rice

Servings:

Calories: 478kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

Ingredients

500 g chicken, cut into pieces about 1 lb; boneless thigh or breast, cut before you start
300 g rice about 1½ cups
2 cups water for cooking the rice
2 onions, finely chopped
garlic, finely chopped used in step 2; it was missing from the original list
3 carrots, peeled and diced
250 g mushrooms, sliced
2 cups white wine the quantity comes from step 2; it cooks off completely
1 beef bouillon cube
Oil, for frying
Saffron or yellow colouring 2 teaspoons if using Colombian azafrán colouring; a good pinch of threads if using real saffron
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Bring the water to the boil with the rice. Once the water on the surface has gone, lower the heat, cover, and let it finish cooking. Aim for al dente: a grain crushed between your fingers should still have a firm centre, not collapse completely.
In a pan with oil, gently fry the finely chopped onion and garlic until soft. Add the peeled and diced carrots, and when they have softened, the sliced mushrooms. Once those are done, pour in the two cups of white wine, add the bouillon cube, the saffron, salt and pepper, and cook for 10 minutes more, until the wine has cooked away completely.
In another pan, brown the cut-up chicken until golden. Leave it alone while it colours rather than stirring it constantly. Then add it to the pan with the vegetables, along with the cooked rice.
Stir everything together well, let it cook for another 5 minutes so the flavours meet, and serve straight away.

Notes

The wine has to cook away completely. If any is left when the rice goes in, the dish keeps a sharp, slightly bitter edge that nothing later will fix. On the saffron: two teaspoons only makes sense for the yellow colouring powder sold as azafrán in Colombia, which is there for colour rather than flavour. If you are using real Spanish saffron threads, a good pinch is plenty and two teaspoons would be both ruinous and unpleasant. This is a dish that takes additions well, shrimp, olives, sausage, squid or artichokes are all common.

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