For dinner tonight...Arroz con Pollo a la Peruana

[BlueCollar]

We'll be eating well this evening DU'ers...

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Ingredients: 2 T fresh Coriander (cilantro)
60ml/2fl.oz. Vegetable Oil
Salt and Pepper
4 boneless Chicken Breasts, skinned
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
1 Onion, finely chopped
325g/-12oz Long Grain Rice
600ml/20fl.oz. fresh Chicken Stock
100g/4oz Frozen Green Peas
2 aji verde, cut into very thin strips

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Directions: Place the coriander in a blender together with 120ml/4fl.oz. of water and process until quite smooth.
Pass through a wide meshed strainer to remove the excess water and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the chicken, garlic and onion and fry over a medium heat for about 20 minutes, turning from time to time, until the chicken is just cooked.
Add the reserved blended coriander and the stock and bring to the boil, stirring well.
Add the rice and aji verde and cook over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes until liquid is almost completely absorbed.
Add the peas and continue to cook over low heat for a further 5-10 minutes or until the rice is cooked. This is traditionally served with the chicken completely covered by the rice.

[rabs]

1. You have made my stomach growl

I spent considerable time in Peru and have always liked the Peruvian kitchen.

Curious, what kind of aji do you use? Jalapeño or the red or green chili peppers?

For those who do not know, the word "chili (or chile) is not used in South America. The usual word is "aji." (There is no chili (or chile) in the country of Chile. Only aji !!)

As they say in Lima, "buen provecho."

:hi:

[Kali]

3. thanks

was going to have to look up or ask

[BlueCollar]

16. green serrano peppers

aji verde is nothing more than a green pepper...sub jalapeno or whatever you wish...


y gracias..

:hi:

[david13]

2. There are several of the El Pollo Inka restaurants here. They have

chicken and rice, probably very close to your recipe. One of my favorites.
dc

[Kali]

4. yum

sounds good! I was missing cilantro from my little "Mexican" stir-fry/skillet dinner tonight
about a lb of ground beef, an onion, 8 or 10 Mexican grey squash, garlic, half a dozen jalepenos, can of diced tomatoes, bit of cumin, salt, pepper

sliced, diced, chopped, stir fried served with white cheese, el pato salsa, steamed tortillas. REALLY missing fresh cilantro!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. Que es aji verde?

Green what?
Lo siento, me espanole es muy malo perro soy dispacio apprendere.

[Xipe Totec]

6. Aji is Spaniard talk for chile n/t

[rabs]

8. chili, chilli, chile, or pimento?

Did not hear "aji" mentioned in Spain. It appears that "aji" was originally an Arawak word.

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When Columbus arrived in the West Indies, he found at least two species of capsicums being cultivated by the Arawaks, agriculturists who had migrated north from their homeland in northeastern South America to the Caribbean Islands during a twelve-hundred-year period beginning about 1000 B.C.E. (Anghiera, 1964; Watts, 1987). Those migrants had traveled by way of present-day Trinidad and the lesser Antilles, bringing with them a tropical capsicum that had been domesticated in their homeland. They also brought the word "ají "—by which the plant was, and still is, known in the West Indies and throughout its native South American habitat (Heiser, 1969).

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Columbus believed that he had arrived in the Orient when he landed on the islands of the Caribbean Sea. He was so convinced of this that he called the islands the Indies, the natives were labeled Indians, and to the confusion of all who came after him, the pungent spice they ate was named pimiento after the completely unrelated black pepper—pimienta—that he sought. The indigenous Arawaks, his Indians, called the fruit axí (pronounced "aah hee") that was transliterated in Spanish to ají (ajé or agí).

Today the pungent varieties are still called ají in the Dominican Republic (formerly Española) and a few other places in the Caribbean and much of South America. In Spain American peppers are called pimiento or pimientón (depending on the size) after pimienta or black pepper from India.

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Found above info here and it has all anyone would ever want to know about chile (or chili).

http://www.answers.com/topic/chili-pepper-1

Trust you had at least one or two of these in Boston today: caribe; cascabel; cayenne; charleston hot; cherry pepper; chilaca; chipotle; fresno; guajillo; güero; habanero; hungarian wax; jalapeño; jamaican hot; mulato; pasilla; pepperoncini; pequín; pimiento; poblano; red pepper; ristra; santa fe grande; scotch bonnet; serrano; sweet peppers; thai chile; togarashi, or Hatch.

:hi:

[Kali]

9. so where did the word chile come from?

guessing another mispronunciation of axi? (and too lazy to look it up myself)

[Xipe Totec]

11. See post #10

[Xipe Totec]

10. I had the pasilla and ancho in home made tamales this week

Made 10 dozen beef tamales to take to work for a party.

My wife had to leave the house while I roasted them on a skillet, as I filled the entire house with pepper smoke.

I have Spanish friends and acquaintances who call it aji. That is how I know that the Arawak word made it back to Spain, along with the peppers.

The Nahuatl word is Chilli, from where the verb chillar (to cry) comes from.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

12. Great research but therin lies the rub (as it were)

The difference between adding a Poblano or a Habenero to a recipe could be substantial! Personally, you can't make it too hot for me but most of my friends with, shall we say, more Caucasian tastes, couldn't handle the spice of even Colonel Sander's hot sauce, much less some serious 'capsaicin'

[struggle4progress]

14. IIRC aji is a devilishly look little peruvian pepper, often grown locally in

backyards and ground fresh to make a salsa added to soups

[BlueCollar]

17. any green pepper will do..serrano/jalapeno etc..

depends on how spicy you like it..

:hi:

[Xipe Totec]

7. I went to a great Mexican restaurant in Boston today

A party of ten people, and we had them serve it family style so we could all share a taste of each of the dishes.

At Cafe Ole:

pitchers of Margaritas
Dos Equis
Freshly made guacamole en molcajete
Chiles rellenos
Duck in mole sauce
Pescado a la Veracruzana (Haddock with pearl onions, capers, and pimento)
Robalo asado (sea bass)
Mariscada (scallops, shrimp, and mussles in tomato sauce)
Alhambres de pollo (chicken kebobs)
flan.

Don't ask what the bill was...

[elleng]

13. THANKS

x-posted at cooking/baking.

[janx]

15. That sounds very good! n/t