Stay Warm – Cook Costa Rican
Susana Contreras
teaches us how.
By Lindsay Sterling
Susana Contreras is short and thin with
dark eyes and long, straight, dark hair. Her husband’s job transfer from
L.L.Bean’s Costa Rican office to company headquarters inspired the whole family
to move for a time to Freeport, Maine. When I asked her if she would teach me
her favorite dish from Costa Rica, she replied, “I would love to,” wincing, “But
I’m not a good cooker.”
Susana emailed her friends from
home. “Which dish should I teach?” One of her friends emailed her back: “You’re
going to teach cooking?” Another: “Good luck.” And a third: “You’re going to
need more than luck.” In Costa Rica, Susana’s twelve-hour days as an industrial
engineer led her to hire a beloved family helper, Mari, to do the cooking. Now,
with Susana’s visa preventing her from working, she is relishing in her time at
home, which she describes as a gift. She is spending more time with her kids
and – little do her friends from home know – becoming a better cook.
“We’re going to cook some arroz con pollo,” she says, “which is
rice with chicken, very traditional Costa Rican food. When you have parties
with a lot of people, that’s the main thing.” Growing up, no one ever taught
her to cook this dish. Susana’s mother left her family when she was six. It’s a
long story, but the short of it is: her mother got married and had kids too
young. She eventually had to leave to find her self and true love in America. At
home, her father cooked simple foods for the family like fried chicken, beans,
and a lot of rice with vegetables in the rice cooker, a trick Susana uses in
making arroz con pollo today.
She sautés finely diced red bell pepper,
celery and onion right in the bottom of the rice cooker pot in a little oil and
butter. When the vegetables are soft, she adds parboiled rice, and stirs so all
the grains are coated in flavored oil. “So here’s the thing with the amount of
water,” she explains. “I have heard you should use double, and all kinds of combinations.
But what my father told me, what I needed is this part of my thumb.” She sticks
her thumb vertically about ¾ inches deep into the water covering the rice. The
watermark reaches her fist knuckle.
As the rice cooks, Susana’s fingers
pull the meat of three boiled chicken breasts into thin strips. Then in a large
pot on the stove she sautées more finely diced red pepper, celery, and onion in
oil. To this she adds achiote [Ah chee YO tay] a ground red seed that turns the
contents of the pot a tantalizing orange-red. Next, she adds a condiment called
Salsa Lizano, which tastes like a cross between barbecue sauce and Spicy V8. Then
she mixes all together in the large pot: the pulled chicken, the cooked rice, and
2 cans of corn, peas and carrots. “Don’t stir too much or it will turn like
dough.” The flecks of color from the different vegetables make the dish look
perfect for a party. Arroz con pollo
is served with fried yellow plantains, potato chips, black bean dip, and fresh
green salad.
After Susana’s youngest son witnessed
for the first time white snow falling from the sky, he declared it was the best
day of his life. The world has its wonders. I might add, Costa Rican arroz con pollo is one of them.
