Recipes » Vegetables » Yellow Rice with Corn (Daisy)

Ingredients   (Arroz Amarillo con Maiz)

• Corn and Rice:
• 1/2 cup Achiote Oil
• 1/2 cup Sofrito
• 2 cups fresh corn or frozen
• 1/2 cup alcaparrado or coarsely chopped pimiento-stuffed olives
• 2 to 3 tbsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• Cilantro
• 3 cups long grain white rice
• Homemade or canned chicken broth as needed (about 4 cups)
•  
• Sofrito:
• 2 medium Spanish onions, cut into large chunks
• 3 to 4 Italian frying peppers or cubanelle peppers
• 16 to 20 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 large bunch culantro, washed
• 7 to 10 ajices, ajicito dulces, or cachucha
• 4 leaves of cilantro
• 3 to 4 ripe plum tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks
• 1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into large chunks
• 
  Achiote Oil : Aceite de Achiote
• 1  cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons achiote (annatto) seeds
•  
• Alcaparrado:
• olives, pitted and chopped
• capers, chopped
• red bell pepper , roasted
• 2 parts white vinegar
• 1 part EVOO
• pepper or to taste
   

Preparation

Heat the achiote oil in a heavy 4- to 5-quart pot with a tight-fitting lid over medium heat.
Stir in the sofrito; cook until most of the water is evaporated.

Add alcaparrado or olives, salt, cumin, pepper, most of the cilantro and bay leaves, stirring to combine.

When bubbling, add rice, stirring to coat and to fix the color to the rice.

Pour in enough chicken broth to cover the rice by the width of two fingers.

Bring to a boil and boil until the broth reaches the level of the rice.

Stir the rice once, reduce to low, stir in corn, cover, cook 20 minutes, without opening the pot or stirring.

Gently fluff the rice up by scooping the rice from the bottom to the top. Garnish with remaining cilantro.

(Sofrito: Makes about 4 cups. Freeze rest.

Chop onion and cubanelle or Italian peppers in Vitamix, coarsely chopped.

With the motor running, add the remaining ingredients one at a time and process until smooth. Freeze extra sofrito.)

Pantry Notes: Ajices Dulces, also known as cachucha or ajicitos are tiny sweet peppers with a hint of heat. If you can find ajicitos in your market, add them to sofrito. If not, up the cilantro to ½ bunches and add a pinch of cayenne pepper.

(Achiote oil: Makes about 1 cup

Heat oil and annatto seeds in small skillet, medium heat just until the seeds give off a lively, steady sizzle.
Don't overheat the mixture or the seeds will turn black and the oil a nasty green.
Once they're sizzling away, pull pan from the heat and let stand until the sizzling stops. Strain.)