The chicken version (asopao de pollo) is usually served with plantain–dumplings. It’s a common holiday dish for Christmas, and during Octavitas and Los Tres Reyes Magos celebrations. Asopao de pollo can also include beer, smoked ham, ham hock, corn on the cob with more smoky seasoning cumin, annatto and coriander seeds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asopao
As I expected, the differences between asopao in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are pretty minimal, and probably mostly boil down to who’s recipes make it to the top of Google, where I get my inspiration, more than any real trends in one place versus the other. Other than specific quantities, the only major difference in ingredients between this recipe and the one I made for the Dominican Republic is adding olives and removing corn and squash- and all those ingredients do show up in my optional lists in the other recipe, so there’s not really any ground to say those are real differences from one place to the other.
I did learn a new technique for this recipe, though. If you soak the rice for an hour or so before cooking, it won’t soak up all the liquid in the pot! It was nice to have my soup stay soupy when I reheated it.
It’s been several months since I made the other recipe, so maybe my memory is hazy, but I think flavor-wise I preferred my Dominican recipe. Don’t get me wrong, this one is still plenty tasty, but maybe isn’t balanced as well as the other one. If I make it again I think I will try adding the olives at the very end instead of with the rice; I felt like most of the flavor cooked out of them.
I started with bone-in chicken thighs, but after I seasoned them I decided that I should chop them into smaller pieces, so I removed the bones and cut them into bite-sized chunks. I mostly did this because I was aiming for six servings from the recipe, but only had four thighs. In the end, I had about 8 servings, so I’m glad I did that so that the chicken could easily be spread between all the servings. The recipes I looked at went both ways, with some using small pieces of chicken, while others included a whole thigh in each serving.
Traditionally this dish is made with medium-grain rice, but pretty much any type will work. I used whatever basic store-brand white rice I happened to have in the house (it didn’t specify short or long grain on the bag, so maybe it’s medium?). Just know that the texture might be a little bit different depending on the type of rice you use.
Although we’ve left the Dominican Republic behind, I did use Dominican oregano* again for this recipe, as well as Sazon* and Adobo* seasonings, both of which are discussed in my post about the Dominican version.
When I made the Dominican version I had bought Ajicitos from USAPinton*. Ajicitos (aka aji dulce or aji cachuca) are basically the sweet version of habanero or scotch bonnet peppers, with the distinctive flavor of those peppers, but no capsaicin. I had put the extra peppers from that previous purchase in the freezer (whole and raw) and pulled them out for this recipe. It’s a little tricky cutting frozen pepper away from the seeds, but it wasn’t too hard. Obviously freezing changes the texture of the peppers, and I don’t recommend thawing them before using (they’ll just be mushy and hard to chop), but for applications where flavor is the important factor, it’s a great way to keep extra chilies from going to waste.
Once again, I forgot about the traditional accompaniments to this dish when I was making my shopping list. Sliced avocado and tostones are just as popular in Puerto Rico as in the Dominican Republic, and definitely would have tasted good with this.
Puerto Rican Asopao de Pollo
Serves: 6-8
Prep: 45 minutes
Cook: 1:20
Total: ~2:00, plus time to marinate the chicken
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2 lbs chicken thighs
2 ½ teaspoons adobo seasoning
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup medium-grain white rice
2 Tablespoons olive oil
OR
4 teaspoons annatto oil
AND
½ Tablespoon neutral cooking oil
3 oz ham, diced
¼ cup sofrito
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
4-5 ajicitos*, chopped
1 ½ carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
Salt, to taste
1 cup tomato sauce
OR
3 Tablespoons tomato paste
5 cups water
5 cups chicken stock
1 ½ 14 oz. cans diced tomato
2 ¼ teaspoons Sazon (2 packets)
2 Tablespoons chicken bouillon
2 bay leaves
⅔ cup pimento-stuffed green olives
1 cup peas
3 Tablespoons cilantro, chopped
½ lime, wedges
Optional:
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2-3 smoked pork chops, in place of ham
2 teaspoons Dominican oregano, in place of regular
⅔ lb. auyama (kabocha squash), diced
1 ¼ cups frozen corn
Annatto, to taste
¾ Tablespoon garlic powder
3 ears corn on the cob, cut into 2” pieces
2 potatoes, sliced
¼ cup culantro, chopped
1 cubanelle pepper, diced, in place of green bell pepper
Season the chicken with adobo, black pepper, oregano, and cumin. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or up to 24.
Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Cover with cool water and leave to soak for about 1 hour, while you prepare the soup.
Heat oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Add the ham and cook until golden brown, 3-4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the ham and reserve it for later.
Add the marinated chicken to the pot and brown, 2-3 minutes each side. Add the sofrito, onion, garlic, peppers, carrot, and celery. Season with salt to taste.
If you are using tomato paste, add it now. If using tomato sauce, wait until the vegetables are softened and add it with the other liquids in the next step. Mix well and sauté for a couple minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.
Add water, chicken stock, diced tomatoes, Sazon, chicken bouillon, and bay leaves. Stir well, scraping up any bits from the bottom, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30-40 minutes.
Drain the rice and add it, along with the olives, and ham, and continue to cook, stirring frequently, for 15-20 minutes, until rice is cooked to your desired consistency.
Stir in the peas and cilantro and cook for about 5 more minutes.
Serve with lime wedges, and some sliced avocado and/or tostones if you’d like.
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Lorin cooks Legumes 