Arroz Amarillo (Yellow Rice)

This is one of those dishes that keeps you coming back for more, it’s lightly spiced and has that savoury, home-cooked flavour that’s really hard to replicate in other dishes.

It’s a great example of how with a few simple tweaks and some everyday ingredients you can go from average to amazing.

Recipe Breakdown

We have 1 cup of washed long-grain rice, 2 cups of liquid, which is a chicken stock. That’s our 1:2 ratio.

The aromatics are finely diced onion, minced garlic, ground turmeric and adobo seasoning. I’ll leave a recipe for this adobo seasoning down in the description it’s really easy to make, and to finish some chopped coriander aka cilantro.

Method

To get started, preheat your saute pan and add a splash of oil.

Next, add the rice and gently fry that for 2 minutes until you start to smell a slightly toasted smell.

Then add the diced onion and gently fry for a few minutes until the onion is starting to become translucent,

Then add the minced garlic and fry for 1 more minute whilst occasionally stirring.

Now add the ground tumeric, adobo seasoning and stock

I’m adding a little salt because my chicken stock already has a salty flavour, if you’re using a homemade or salt-free stock then you’ll need to season a little more at this stage.

Place a lid on and leave to simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes give the rice a check, by now it should have absorbed most if not all of the liquid give it a stir. Lid back on, and leave it to steam on a low heat for 5 minutes.

Once its had those 5 minutes of cooking on low then turn the heat off and let it continue to steam in the pan with the lid on for another 5 minutes.

That’s arroz amarillo, super tasty and fragrant from the aromatics and spices, and not that hard to do.

Stir in some chopped coriander just before serving to give it a touch of freshness and another dimension of flavour.

Key Moments

Frying the rice gives it a deeper flavour and it also helps it to not become stodgy or sticky after cooking by locking in some of that starch.

The chicken stock played 2 roles for us in this recipe, going back to the recipe structure it’s the liquid as well as being an aromatic because it’s bringing a flavour to the rice.

The final 5 minutes of steaming with the lid on but heat off helps the rice to become evenly cooked.

If you’ve ever had rice that 95% of it is cooked but some bits are crunchy, then this final 5 minutes of gentle steaming will help with this.

This is a crucial step when cooking sushi rice for example.

Yield: 4 portions

Arroz Amarillo (Yellow Rice)

Print

This arroz amarillo recipe is a super easy way to take your rice from boring to amazing with just a few extra steps. 2 simple spices, stockk, onion and garlic will take this rice from plain to tasty.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup long-grain rice
• 1 tablespoon butter or oil
• 1/4 cup finely diced onion
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon adobo seasoning
• 2 cups stock
• 1/8 cup chopped coriander

Instructions

1. Wash the rice until the water runs almost clear, then strain it and be sure to get as much excess water off as possible.
2. In a preheated frying pan add a splash of oil and the rice.  Fry whilst stirring for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the diced onion, fry for a few minutes and add the diced garlic and fry for one more minute whilst stirring.
3. Add the turmeric, adodo seasoning and the stock, stir everything together, bring the pan to a simmer, turn the heat low, and place a lid on.
4. After 10 minutes of gentle simmering check the rice, most of the liquid should of been absorbed and the rice should be 80% cooked.
5. Cook for another 5 minutes until the rice is tender and fluffy.