Last week I had Cuban food cravings! And though the Peruvian classic “Arroz a la Cubana” is an easy weeknight option, I actually wanted real cuban food.

I am not Cuban, but a Peruvian with a great appetite. Hey! I am, like my mom always called me: a gordita that is always hungry 😉.

Yellow Cuban Rice

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil, as needed
• 3/4 cup corn, frozen or fresh
• Achiote
• Cooked rice
• Green peas
• Pumpkin oil

directions:

1. Preheat a sauté pan, over medium high heat, add oil, about 1-2 tbsp.
2. Add the corn and sprinkle with some salt and achiote powder. Allow corn to sear and take on a roasted color. Then add the rice and with the help of a spatula or wooden spoon, combine (fry rice style.
3. When rice is thoroughly combined, colored, and it feel hot to the touch, add the green peas.
4. Mix rice. At the end of cooking, add a little bit of pumpkin oil.

Chef Notes for the Pro-Chef Kitchen

• Why pumpkin oil
  • I love the little nuttiness of the oil, and as is added at the end, the flavors of the oil, enhances the flavor of the rice and this oil goes great with the achiote, which practically just gives color with a very earthy-dirt flavor
• Variations:
  • Add some shredded squash, from pumpkin to butternut or seasonal ones.
  • Add gandules instead of peas

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A post shared by Freyka Nunez del Prado (@cheffreykaskitchen)