Arroz Aguado means watery rice (aquado is derived from the word agua). It’s the Nicaraguan comfort food equivalent to chicken soup, and like chicken soup, is often served to the sick to help them recover faster.
Arroz Aguado is hands down, without a doubt, our family’s favorite Nicaraguan dish. It’s so good I’m surprised that Trader Joe’s hasn’t yet discovered it and put it in a thin black oval dish with a clear covering to poke several times. This puppy, encased in freezer-sized stackable Trader José decorated boxes, would fly off their shelves like the newly released ipad. Just last week Eliana informed me she wasn’t hungry when I announced dinner was ready. “Oh bummer,” I sighed, “I made arroz aguado.” “Arroz aguado?! I want a huge bowl!!” she shouted. She went back for seconds and even had another serving an hour later.
The consistency can be anywhere from a wet oatmeal to slightly soupy. We like ours to be wet and not soupy, but you can experiment by adding more water or even using chicken broth if you wish.
Our caretaker’s daughter, Arleni, our first maid, made this recipe for us and taught me how to make it. I have since learned you can add carrots, avocado (as a garnish), potatoes (will need to addsalt if you do that), squash, and just about anything you would put into soup. Cilantro adds a more complex flavor whenadded early into the cooking process, and alsomakes a wonderful garnish.
It’s a little tricky to relate the sizes of the veggies here, as some are noticeably different than what I’m used to in the states, so I took pictures and measured as best I could. I don’t know what kind of tomatoes we are using, for example. They look like a cross between Romas and tomatoes on the vine. Great for cooking and super red, sweet, and completely delish! Our green peppers (called chiltomas) are small, small, small. About 2 inches long, so take that into account deciding how much green pepper to use. Chiltomas are a cooking staple here, they are used in everything. The limes are extremely juicy, but small. I included an exact liquid measurement since the limes in the states are larger, but not necessarily as juicy.
A quick word about the chicken. Clearly you can add the chicken however you wish. It will cook faster if you add chopped chicken to the pot, but I find that the chicken tastes better and the texture becomes one with the dish if you put the breast in whole, pull it apart after it’s cooked, and then add it back to the dish.
Achiote. I don’t know what it is, exactly. It’s a ground up spice of something. Achiote adds some depth to the dish, but it’s not imperative you use it. If you happen to come by it pick some up, but if not, don’t sweat it. I’m told Nicaraguans like colored food and that achiote is mainly used to color the dish. Supposedly paprika can be used in its place. Molido, by the way, means ground or milled.
If you love onions, feel free to use the entire onion in the pot and cut extra from a second onion for thesautéing at the end (that’s what I do!).
Because the point of this dish is for the rice to be soft, you can make this ahead of time and then heat it back up. Don’t freak when you tell your family, “dinner’s ready” and it takes them 20 minutes to get their fannies to the dinner table. This dish can patiently wait and mature in the pot for a few hours (heat turned off), so sit back and relax. I prefer it freshly made and a little more firm with a tad of extra liquid, but this dish is also scrumptious with over cooked super soft fully expanded rice that melts in your mouth.
4 – 4.5 cups water
1 cup rice
2 breasts of chicken (or more if you prefer)
1 small green bell pepper, diced (notice the size of the pepper in the picture)
1 medium onion, diced, set aside 3 tablespoons
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 red, super delicious tomato, diced
5 sprigs mint (about 1/4 cup of leaves)
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. achiote
juice of two limes (2.5 – 3 Tablespoons)
Wash rice well and drain.
Put all ingredients into the a pot (except the juice of two limes and the 3 tablespoons of diced onion that was set aside), cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer.
If after 15 minutes it looks like the rice will be dry or the consistency is not going to be wet and soft, add more water. Use enough water that the end consistency will resemble smooth, wet oatmeal.
Cook until rice and chicken are done, roughly 20 minutes.
Once the rice is cooked, sauté 3 tablespoons diced onions in 2 tablespoons of oil on low heat for 2-3 minutes until onions soften. Take onions off before they starts to brown. Add to rice and stir.
Pour in juice of two limes and stir.
Enjoy!
