Arroz con Pollo

Lima, Peru (Spanish arroz con pollo adapted with coriander-ají purée)

Peruvian arroz con pollo is distinguished from its Caribbean and Spanish counterparts by the use of fresh coriander (cilantro) blended into a vivid green purée with ají amarillo that is cooked into the rice, producing a distinctively green, aromatic preparation. Chicken pieces are browned, then braised with the coriander-ají purée, beer, and chicken stock; the rice is cooked in the same liquid and absorbs all the chicken fat and herb aromatics. The result is rice that is vivid green, deeply flavoured, and perfumed with coriander in a way that European or Caribbean versions do not share. This preparation represents the fusion of Spanish rice-with-chicken technique and the Andean preference for fresh herb purées as flavour bases.

• Shares the braised chicken-in-rice structure with Puerto Rican arroz con pollo and Colombian arroz con pollo; the coriander-purée-turned-green technique has a parallel in South Indian coconut-coriander rice preparations.

Served with tostones (twice-fried plantain) and salsa criolla (red onion, ají amarillo, lime) alongside; the vivid green is both visual and flavour — cilantro must be prominent.