Arroz con Pollo

Last week, for Cinco de Mayo, I themed my Shabbat dinner.  I wanted to combine the Mexican celebration with Shabbat.  But what was I going to make??  I did not want to make tacos or chips.  I wanted the meal to still fit in with Shabbat.  Then I thought of it: Arroz con Pollo!  Literally means rice with chicken.  It is a great one pot dish that is filled with fragrant spices, vegetables, rice and chicken.  Now the challenge was trying to make it kosher.  Many authentic Mexican recipes call for pork fat.  And here is where I found a little (a lot!) of help from a box.   I found the idea on the Joy of Kosher website.  I made some small changes to the recipe, mostly to increase the spice-factor.  The original recipe can be found here.  Below is my version. 

Arroz con Pollo

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon oil
1 large onion, diced
2 bell peppers, diced (preferably different colors)
8 oz fresh sliced mushrooms
1 can diced tomatoes with green peppers
1 chicken - cut into 8 pieces* (I think you could add a few more pieces, there is plenty of rice to accommodate more for leftovers)
2 boxes Near East Spanish Rice
2 1/2 cups of water
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons of paprika

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
In a large pan saute onion, peppers, and mushrooms in oil.  Add can of tomatoes.  Cook down for about 7 minutes, until vegetables are soft.  In a large pot, pour in Near East rice and spice-mix in.  Add vegetables and water.  Stir.

Season chicken with turmeric, garlic and paprika.  Nestle chicken on top of rice.  Place in oven.  Cook for about 1 hour, 20 minutes. 

It serves between 6-8 people, depending on how much chicken.  I served this with a side of black beans (spiced up with chili powder) and zucchini flavored with cumin.  It tied the flavors together perfectly.  Although originally for Cinco de Mayo, this is a dish that I will be making more frequently.  It was delicious!