Friday, December 12, 2008

Arroz Amarillo Con Salchichas (Yellow Rice With Vienna Sausage)

This is one of those other really Cuban home-style dishes you are very unlikely to find outside Cuban homes.

It's another one of those "comfort" foods to me, it's not something we will make if we have special guests or anything like that but it's one of those very humble dishes we will make when we don't feel like spending a long time in the kitchen and want something quicker, yet it is still one of our favorite yellow rice dishes that always reminds everyone of my "Tata" (my grandmother) when we didn't feel like cooking a meat dish, and a bunch of other things the yellow rice with Vienna sausage with a big simple salad was a satisfying, filling, inexpensive, quick to make meal, then whatever we have leftover from previous day's (usually some type of bean stew which we always have in the fridge) is served as a soup on the side although it's not really necessary but hey beans are good for you :)

I know some may say, "What canned Vienna Sausages isn't that American, it's not in Cuban cooking?" well it does have a place in Cuban cooking along with SPAM, Deviled Ham, and Cream Cheese which are mostly associated with Americans. We have Deviled Ham dips, Cream Cheese is used to pair with really sweet Guava paste on crackers, or ham and cream cheese sandwiches, SPAM is sometimes lightly fried in oil, then in the dripping sauteee a bunch of onions for a quick meal with rice, etc. It's most likely due to the American influence in pre-castro day's when Cuba would recieve a lot of tourism from various places and it is also relatively a close distance from USA, so these products easily made their way to Cuba. Also pre-castro Cuba had stuff like Baskin Robbins also but had more "exotic" tropical flavors available like Mango ice cream, Coconut, Guanabana (similar to Chirimoya which I can get fresh :), Mamey (which it sucks that I can only get the frozen pulp where I live), Pineapple, etc. well that's the thriving pre-castro Cuba I bet they only have Vanilla and Chocolate now and it's probably all artificial... and the good stuff is probably reserved for the tourist...

Ingredients:
-3 cups white long-grain rice
-2-3 cans that are 5 oz. of Vienna Sausage (I used 1 can 9 0z. and another 5 oz.)
-1 green or red bell pepper finely minced
-1 medium onion finely minced
-6 cloved of garlic finely minced
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-2 teaspoon salt (trust me your cooking a big portion)
-1 1/2 teaspoons "Bijol" (annato seed powder)
-2 bay leaves (optional)
-extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:
(1)Heat olive oil on medium high lower heat to medium and sautee onion and bell pepper for about 5-6 minutes, then add garlic and sautee for another 3-4 minutes, add cumin, bijol, and bay leaves, gently stir and let sautee for another 1 minute, add Vienna sausages cut into 3 sections gently fold let cook 1 minute.

(2)While sauteeing don't just stand there haha, take advantage and wash the rice well and drain, place in the rice cooker, add water nesseccary to cook rice, and set aside, clean up whatever mess you made.

(3)Add the sautee you made to rice and water along with 2 teaspoons salt gently fold in cover and turn on rice cooker. When rice cooker beeps it's done and ready to eat.
You can gently fold in the vienna sausages or leave them on top so everyone can scoop them together with the rice, I folded them back in

(4)While waiting for rice to cook you can quickly make a salad, heat up the leftovers you may want to eat with it (in my case the lentil stew) and I had pumpkin fritter batter yesterday that I made early in the day which I fried up while waiting for the rice to cook which I made yesterday and clean up whatever mess.

(5)This dish tastes really good the Vienna Sausages give it a very distinct taste.

P.S. You can adjust the recipe to cook on stove top.

PLEASE NOTE:
Amount of water needed varies depending on the rice you used, for regular long-grain white rice (like Mahatma and Blue Ribbon, etc.) use 1 1/2 cups water per cup of rice, if using something like a long-grain Jasmine new crop rice use equal water to rice, etc. or if your so used to eating rice (like me) you can probably tell by just looking if you have the right amount of water or using the "Asian finger trick" haha. (You know that trick many of them use like if the water above the rice measures up to the first like of their index finger it's perfect regardless the amount of rice or so they say)

16 comments:

FOODalogue said...

Enjoyed the dialogue in this post as always...and I know Vienna Sausage and deviled ham are popular in the Latin culture (which I usually embrace)...HOWEVER, for some reason, I grew up with an aversion to this product. It probably tastes good, but it's one aisle in the supermarket I skip.

The Yuca Diaries said...

I love arroz con salchichas- my mom makes it so yummy. She sometimes throws in a small can of corn. I am going to Miami in a few days and might be eating some of this when I'm there ;)

DreaminginDanish said...

Ay...that can of vienna sausages makes me think of my mami. You're arroz con salchichas looks a lot like hers. So good. Can't wait to go back home for the holidays and have me some. Also putting in a order for some carne guisada and coquito. mmmmm :)

Anonymous said...

love the cross-cultural referneces of this post and this dish. it reminds me of the many italian-american dishes of my heritage!

Nathan said...

Foodalogue,
Yup I skip the overly processed food stuff almost always but some things I'm just really accustomed to (probably the canned stuff I use the most is tomato sauce, evaporated milk for coffee, and condensed milk I like it straight and to make desserts or to drizzle over Torrejas) occasionally I will crave these processed meats lol.

Rox,
Mmmm... be sure to post lots of yummy finds and whatever you learn, your lucky :)

Indra,
Yum Coquito (it's like Coconut Egg Nog right?) I love anything coconut and with rum yum (no pun intended lol.)

We Are Never Full,
Haha you just remind me of the "Cuban-Italian" dishes many Cubans make you'll be surprised, I'll post those someday. (Like Spaghetti in a type of tomato based Cuban creole Sauce with ground beef or meat balls spiced with cumin, pepper, and salt then topped with parm really tasty). My mom also makes a I would say "Mexican-Italian" type dish where spaghetti is dressed in a cilantro garlic butter sauce that uses Mexican unsalted cream as a base. Wow I still have sooo many things to share on my blog, I'll probably never finish lol.

Anonymous said...

Nathan: Me sigues matando! Like arroz con pollo, you can also replace some of the water (8 ounces) with beer. There's similar dish I make but with sliced Spanish chorizo. Vienna salchichas were popular in Cuba because they were very cheap, easy to use, and ready for a quick meal (unlike most Cuban meals that do require plenty of time).

Recetas al instante said...

este es mi plato favorito y lo hago con mucha frecuencia.
Saludos y excelente blog.
Olga.

Nathan said...

Mamey,
Jaja "no te mueras todavia que falta mucho mas" I've never made rice with chorizo but sounds good, I want to make a "Arroz Con Garbanzos y Chorizo" I saw on the back of the "Goya" Garbonzo bag haha. Arroz Con Pollo I another favorite I love it "a la Chorrera" my grandmother loves Arroz a la Chorrera she'll make different variations with it, one with chorizo another with pork and I think there is another one made with "Morcilla"

OLGUIS,
Gracias por la visita y el commentario, orita voy a visitar tu blog :)

Carolina_USMLE said...

Chico!!!!
I'm Colombian, but I've lived in Miami for over 10 years and learned how to cook your delicious food.
Your Arroz con salchichas...candela!!!
I'm learning how to cook with my cuban friends, the cuban bloggers and Nitza Villapol.
My arroz con salchichas is on the stove now smelling divine!!!
Thanks!!

Anonymous said...

In Matanzas, Cuba, the arroz con salchichas was always cooked with corn in it. It takes the dish to a new level. Try it. Next time you cook it, add a small can of sweet corn. This is as great a "feel good" food as you'll ever have!

Nathan said...

Anonymous,
Hi and thanks for the visit, I'll be sure to add a can of corn next time I get around to making this dish :) I've made arroz con maiz before, & I re-call my mom making "arroz con salchicha" once with rounds of corn in it, but the corn desgranado would probably be way better finding the little kernels in there YUM!

Saludos y abrazos from down here in So Cal.

Frank said...

Dear Nathan, thank you so much for your blog. Ever since I relocated to Cali. from Miami, I've been missing that home cooking. I made your Bistec an Cazuela last night for some friends and it was a hit. Can't wait to make Arroz con Salchichas tonight. Reminds me of my Mom. Thanks again for bringing a piece of home to Cali.

Nathan said...

Hola Frank,
Glad I was able to bring a peace of home :)

Anonymous said...

I note this original post was done in 2008. Sorry, but this recipe is NOT cuban and has been homecooked and served in Puerto Rican households for decades. No origin in Cuba or Mexico I notice you mention Cuban Spanish and Mexican and then "other" so I guess Puerto Rico falls in that category. This was called the "Poor Man's Delight" by my dad when money was tight and we needed to feed a lot of mouths, like arroz con gandules does.

Nathan said...

Anonymous,
If you read the other comments from the other Cubans rest assured they grew up on this too, it's part of Cuban Cuisine... Puerto Rican and Cuban Cuisine share many similarities and dishes each with their own twist or flair.

The origin in Cuban cooking for this dish is simple, Cubans make "Arroz Amarillo" which is of Spanish origin with a variety of ingredients depending what they have on hand or are in the mood for (chicken, sausage, seafood, etc.) they got exposed to Vienna sausages by Americans and well decided to mix it into Arroz Amarillo, it's no mystery.

Same way Puerto Ricans ended up making it/ getting exposed to Vienna sausages.

Nathan said...

Plus in Puerto Rican cuisine the yellow rice probably has a sofrito with cilantro/ culantro, aji dulce, tomatoes, some kind of goya sazon packets, etc. something not present in the dish I presented.

Here's another Cuban blogger who makes it too (hers is a little different than mine in the sense that it has wine, roasted bell peppers, peas and meat stock with bay leaves):

http://www.mybigfatcubanfamily.com/my_big_fat_cuban_family/2013/09/arroz-con-salchichas-recipe.html