''Arroz con pollo'' ( Spanish for ''rice with chicken'') is a traditional dish of

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. It typically consists of chicken cooked with rice, onions, saffron, and a potential plethora of other grains or vegetables. In the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

it is alternately called locrio de pollo, and in Saint Martin it is called lokri or locreo.

Origins

There is some debate as to whether it originated in Spain or Puerto Rico. Many Puerto Ricans note that arroz con pollo cannot be made without beer and annatto oil, and saffron is no substitute. Beer and annatto are rarely used in Spanish cooking and never in arroz con pollo there. Annatto is frequently used in Puerto Rican cooking especially in rice dishes like arroz con gandules (rice with pork and pigeon peas) and arroz con maiz (rice with corn and sausage). Beer is used in many Puerto Rican dishes like pollo guisado (braised stewed chicken) and asopao de pollo (chicken rice stew). Many Puerto Rican rice dishes are generously seasoned with sofrito, a sauce commonly used in arroz con pollo. Food writer Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz, pointing out the international aspects of the dish, notes the origin of arroz con pollo in the Spanish forms of

pilaf Pilaf (), pilav or pilau () is a rice dish, or in some regions, a wheat dish, whose recipe usually involves cooking in stock or broth, adding spices, and other ingredients such as vegetables or meat, and employing some technique for achieving ...

, already reflecting international influences: chicken was brought from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and rice from

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

; saffron (used for the yellow colour in Spain, instead of annatto) was introduced by

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

n traders; tomatoes and peppers (also known as

sofrito (), (), (), (), () or () is a basic preparation in Mediterranean cuisine, Mediterranean, Latin American cuisine, Latin American, Spanish cuisine, Spanish, Italian cuisine, Italian and Portuguese cuisine, Portuguese cooking. It typically ...

) are natives of the Americas."Arroz con Pollo"Foodandwine.com
Accessed August 2011. Arroz con pollo y papa a la huancaina

References

External links

{{Chicken dishes, state=collapsed Cuban cuisine Dominican Republic cuisine Latin American cuisine Mexican chicken dishes Mexican rice dishes Peruvian chicken dishes Puerto Rican cuisine Spanish cuisine Chicken and rice dishes Cuisine of the Southwestern United States

Origins

See also

References

External links