How to Make Mexican Arroz Con Pollo

by Wayne Lundberg

Arroz con pollo was one of my mother's most triumphant dishes.  Everyone asked for the recipe.  When she started to teach, she had no choice but to start with arroz con pollo. She herself tells us this in the record she kept of her classes and I will quote her, as this class was a resounding success.   Here is her class:

"Because so many of my friends and acquaintances have sat at my dinner table and have partaken of the delectable dish Arroz con Pollo, Mexican Fried Rice with Chicken, and because of so many requests for the original recipe from the Aztec kingdom, which up till now I have so selfishly guarded from all, I have finally decided to consent and let others share with me."

 

The worth of this delicacy has been proven over a period of several hundred years. With changes being made only by foreigners who could never learn how to get the right touch to it, or who could not leave a good thing alone and would mess it up by adding their own this and that.

The original method of putting it together worked fine for the Aztecs, and it will for us. So far as my experiences with Aztec cooking, I find no mention of them having had measurements such as a cup, a teaspoon, or an ounce, or degrees of heat such as 450 degrees for 15 minutes. In fact, I find no mention of clocks as we know them today.

The early cultures, cooked on charcoal braziers and used thick pottery pots and thin comales made of baked clay. The effect is similar to our crockery ware or a thick heavy skillet.

The amounts of ingredients to be used will depend upon first, how may servings each participant will be allowed and how large the servings. Also, whether or not you want to have some left over to reheat the following day. Count on someone asking for a small pan to take with them, assuring you that without fail they will remember to return your pan. (Don’t count on it!)

The Mexican method of cooking, from way back when and even up to day’s modern time, is the eye calculation method. From experience and practice, they know how far so many handfuls of rice will go, how many tomatoes it will take to properly flavor how ever much rice is used, and so on.

Rice is an every day must dish, eaten with the main meal, is called a dry soup. It is also used for fiestas and other special occasions, and is therefore dressed up with many variations. This one with chicken is one of the most popular.

mexican fried rice - arroz con pollo

Add zing and delight from south of the border to your feast:  Serve with Guacamole Sauce (Avocado Sauce)

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