Costa Rican Chicken and Rice

Thank you to my new neighbor, Susana Contreras, for sharing with us this amazing dish, perfect for get-togethers and parties. I am in love with it because it's a fun crowd pleaser that tastes great. Plus, visualizing Costa Rica as we cook and hanging out eating with friends will keep us all warm through the winter! Click at right for the recipe, story, and how-to photos.

The Recipe

As Susana Contreras from Costa Rica taught Lindsay Sterling in Freeport, ME October 2012

Serves 8
Cooking time: 1 hour

3 bone-in chicken breasts
1 tsp of any combination of marjoram, oregano, sage, and rosemary
1 shake paprika
3 shakes ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 large rectangular bouillon cube or 2 small squares (cubito Maggi is the popular brand in Costa Rica)
small bunch fresh cilantro
3 layers red onion
1/2 stalk celery
4 garlic cloves
1/2 red pepper cut into 3 pieces

2 Tbsp oil
1/2 red pepper, finely diced and divided into two separate bowls
1 stalk celery, finely diced and added to the red pepper in two separate bowls
1/2 yellow onion, finely diced and added to the celery and red pepper in two separate bowls

4 cups Uncle Ben's enriched parboiled rice (this is the closest she's found to what's in Costa Rica)

2 tsp salt

enough water to cover the rice by 3/4 inch 

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp butter

2 tsp achiote powder or achiote paste (Available at Latin markets and online)

1 can peas and carrots, drained
1 can corn, drained
1/4 cup Salsa Lizano (available at Latin markets and online)

1 bag potato chips
1 jar black bean dip* (from scratch recipe at bottom)
lettuce
tomato
salad dressing

4 yellow plantains with black spots are good
about 1/2 cup oil

Fill an 8 qt. soup pot 2/3 full with water. Add chicken breasts, Italian seasonings, paprika, cumin, cilantro, salt, bouillon cube(s), red onion layers, and 4 garlic cloves. Bring up to a simmer and cook with lid on until chicken is cooked (opaque throughout instead of translucent).

While that is cooking, saute half of each of the diced onion, celery, and red pepper (leaving an equal amount of each for later use) in 2 Tbsp oil in the bottom of the rice cooker pan (or whatever pot you will use to cook rice). When that's softened, add rice, 2 tsp salt and stir. After a minute, add enough water to cover the rice by about 3/4 inch (the length of the top section of her thumb).

When chicken is cooked, strain broth into another container. Let chicken cool to the touch, then pull the meat into strips about 1 inch long. In a large soup pot, saute the remaining diced onion, celery and red pepper in 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter. Mix in achiote to turn the color to beautiful orange, and Salsa Lizano. Mix in cooked rice, pulled chicken, peas and carrots, and enough broth to moisten. Don't stir too much or the elements will get mushy. Taste. Add another bouillion cube to boost flavor if you like. Delicious!

Peel yellow plantains and slice diagonally into 1/2 inch thick ovals. Cover the bottom of a saute pan with oil, and heat until any piece of plantain bubbles when you put it in the oil, but not so hot so the oil is smoking. (Medium heat, once oil is up to temperature). Fry both sides of the plantain until bright yellow, a little golden is okay. Let oil drain on paper towel before serving.

Toss salad greens in dressing, slice tomato, garnish each plate with both of these. On each plate serve arroz con pollo, black bean dip (recipe below if you want to make from scratch), potato chips, salad, and fried plantains.

Fried Beans

(Adapted from http://www.guiascostarica.com/recetas/recipes.htm)

2 cans of drained cooked black beans
1 medium onion
1/2 cup oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 garlic finely chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt and hot peppers to taste

Fry all the ingredients in the oil except the beans until the onion is crystalized. Blend this with beans in blender. Add a little liquid if necessary, but not too much. You want the mixture thick.

Where to get ingredients:

The achiote and Salsa Lizano and canned black bean dip (called habichuelas molida) are available at Latin stores and online. I get these things here in Portland, Maine, at La Bodega Latina, 863 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04102, (207) 761 - 6661

See How to Do It

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.

The Story

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.