Finely diced celery, onion, and red pepper in two separate bowls.
Onion, red pepper, cilantro go into a broth in which to simmer the chicken.
Salt really helps boost the flavor if you put it in the chicken water.
Now add dried herbs. She said "every spice you have in the house" is the rule of thumb. She used an Italian seasoning blend of marjoram, oregano, sage, and rosemary.
Now she's opening the oil - for putting in the bottom of the rice cooker pot.
She asked if we have a machine that cut these nice little cubes for you. No, we still have to do that by hand!
Adding salt to the parboiled rice - which she added to the sauted veggies in the rice cooker pot.
Now she puts enough water in so that the depth of the water over the rice grains is up to her first nuckle on her thumb (about 3/4 of an inch).
Chicken is simmering nicely in broth.
Here's the rice when it's done. We'll put it into the arroz con pollo in a minute.
First we have to pull the cooked chicken breasts into pieces with our fingers like this.
She sautes that second bowl of veggies in a large soup pot with oil, and then adds this achiote paste. It also comes as a powder, too. It is mild tasting and an awesome colorant - turning the food a delicious golden color. It comes from grinding up the seeds of the achiote bush.
She also adds this to the pot. It's like Worcestershire sauce with a kick. Or bbq sauce plus spicy v8.
Here's what the pot looks like after she's added the peas, corn and carrots. She just started adding the rice from the rice cooker.
Here it is all mixed together. Awesome. Delish. I love this dish.
