If you’re tired of typical rice dishes then consider Arroz Al Poblano. It is a traditional Mexican rice dish that uses green rice and has a delicious, spicy kick. It is an amazing rice side to accompany other Latino foods. It’s easy and quick to make. This recipe serves four people and only takes about 35 minutes to prepare. Prep time is around 10 minutes, followed by 25 minutes of cook time.
Ingredients
2 poblano chili peppers
240 grams of medium-grain rice
3 cloves of fresh garlic
1 medium onion
6 tablespoons of sweet corn
500 milliliters of chicken broth
2 tablespoon of olive oil
fresh coriander
salt
Other Supplies Needed
a wooden spoon
a regular spoon
a blender
2 pans and 1 lid
Prepping The Ingredients
The poblano peppers need to be de-seeded and then chopped. Finely dice the onion, which can be a white onion or a red onion – whichever you prefer. Mince the 3 cloves of garlic and chop your fresh coriander.
Create The Base
Warm one of your saucepans over medium-high heat. Add your poblano chilies and your coriander to the pan. Cover these ingredients with enough stock to just cover them and then bring the mixture to a boil. Add a bit of salt and allow it to cook for 3 minutes or so. After this time, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool a bit.
Once the chili mixture has cooled down, blend it. You can do so with a hand blender, a traditional blender or a food processor. You want the mix to be very smooth and almost creamy in consistency. It should be a very well-combined puree with no chunks.
Preparing The Rice
In your second saucepan you want to cook your rice. Start by letting the pan warm through over medium-high heat. Add the oil and onions first and let the onions fry for a few minutes until they look a little browned. Be careful not to burn them. Add the rice and allow it to cook with the onions. Stir in the garlic and the sweet corn. Finally, pour in the poblano puree as well as the remaining chicken stock.
Allow the mixture to begin to simmer and then cover it with a lid. Turn down the heat and allow it to cook, covered, until the rice is done. This should take 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let the rice cool down. This gives the flavors a chance to settle and also lets the liquid thicken a bit. It makes almost a risotto.
Serving
You can serve this as a side with your favorite meats or on tortillas. Get creative with it. Feel free to also make it a vegetarian dish if you like. To do so, just replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock instead.