Chef Lupita
Adobo de Puerco Poblano
Puebla's weekday adobo of pork shoulder braised in a thick guajillo and ancho sauce sharpened with vinegar, cumin, and clove. The deep red of a market spice stall, the dish a poblana cooks without thinking.
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Arroz Verde Poblano
Created by
Puebla's green rice, long grains toasted in lard then cooked in a vivid puree of charred chile poblano, cilantro, and parsley. A side that eats like a main with a fried egg on top.
Main Dishes
Mexican
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
20 min
Active Time
25 min cook•45 min total
Yield6 servings
This is Puebla. Not Mexico in general, not arroz a la mexicana with its tomato and peas you find on every fonda counter from Tijuana to Mérida. This is the green rice of Puebla, built on the chile that the state itself is named for: the poblano, blistered on a flame until the skin chars black and the flesh underneath turns smoky and soft.
The technique is the same technique that governs every serious Mexican rice. You rinse. You dry. You toast in fat until the grains turn the color of pale bone. You add the liquid hot, never cold, so the boil never breaks. You cover and walk away. You do not stir. Stirring is for risotto. Mexican rice is grain by grain, and the only way to get there is to leave the pot alone.
What makes this version poblana is what goes into the cooking liquid. Roasted poblano, cilantro, parsley, garlic, onion, all blended into a puree so green it stains the rice the color of new growth. You fry the puree into the toasted grains before you add the broth. That step, the sofrito moment, is where the chile concentrates and the rice takes on its color. Skip it and you have pale rice with green flecks. Do it right and every grain carries the flavor of charred poblano from edge to center.
My mother's notebook has a page titled simply 'arroz verde, Puebla.' Below it, in pencil: 'tres chiles, no dos. y manteca, no aceite.' Three chiles, not two. And lard, not oil. She copied it from a señora at a wedding in Cholula in 1979 and she never made it any other way. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
The chile poblano takes its name from the city of Puebla, where it has been cultivated since pre-Columbian times in the volcanic soils of the surrounding valleys. The technique of building a rice dish around a green chile and herb puree, rather than the more common tomato-based arroz rojo, is regional to Puebla and Tlaxcala and reflects the central importance of the poblano in those states' culinary identity. Rice itself arrived in Mexico through Spanish colonial trade routes in the 16th century, brought from Asia via the Manila galleons that docked at Acapulco, and was adopted into Mexican cooking through the same sofrito principle the Spanish had inherited from the Moors: fry the aromatics in fat first, then add the grain, then add the liquid.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
long-grain white rice
Quantity
2 cups
fresh chile poblano
Quantity
3
fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
Quantity
1 cup, packed
fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
Quantity
1/2 cup, packed
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium, plus 1/4 onion left whole
half roughly chopped for the puree, quarter left whole for the pot
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
peeled
chicken broth
Quantity
3 cups, warm
or water with 1 teaspoon salt
pork lard (manteca de cerdo)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
fresh epazote
Quantity
1 sprig
kosher salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
frozen peas (optional)
Quantity
1/2 cup
thawed
crumbled queso fresco (optional)
Quantity
for serving
lime wedges (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| long-grain white rice | 2 cups |
| fresh chile poblano | 3 |
| fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems | 1 cup, packed |
| fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves | 1/2 cup, packed |
| white onionhalf roughly chopped for the puree, quarter left whole for the pot | 1/2 medium, plus 1/4 onion left whole |
| garlic clovespeeled | 3 |
| chicken brothor water with 1 teaspoon salt | 3 cups, warm |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo) | 2 tablespoons |
| fresh epazote | 1 sprig |
| kosher salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| frozen peas (optional)thawed | 1/2 cup |
| crumbled queso fresco (optional) | for serving |
| lime wedges (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 3-quart pot or wide clay cazuela with a tight-fitting lid
- •High-powered blender
- •Fine-mesh sieve for rinsing rice
- •Tongs for turning the chiles over the flame
- •Wooden spoon for toasting
Instructions
- 1
Rinse and dry the rice
Place the rice in a bowl, cover with cool water, and swirl with your hand. The water will turn cloudy. Drain and repeat two or three times until the water runs nearly clear. Drain the rice in a fine-mesh sieve and let it sit for at least 10 minutes to dry. Wet rice will not toast properly and you will end up with a sticky pot. Mexican rice is grain by grain. Así se hace y punto.
- 2
Roast the chile poblano
Set the poblanos directly on the flame of a gas burner or under a hot broiler. Turn them with tongs as the skin blisters and chars on every side. This takes about eight minutes total. You want black skin, not gray, and the flesh underneath should be soft. Move them to a bowl and cover with a plate or a kitchen towel for 10 minutes. The trapped warmth loosens the skin.
Do not skip the charring. Raw poblano gives you a grassy, flat puree. The blistered skin is where the flavor concentrates, and the smoke from the char is half of what makes this rice taste like Puebla. - 3
Peel and clean the chiles
Rub the blistered skin off with your fingers or the back of a knife. Do not rinse them under the tap. Water carries away the smoky oils you just worked to build. A few stubborn black flecks left on the flesh are fine, they belong there. Pull off the stems, slit each chile open, and scrape out the seeds and the white veins. Tear the flesh into rough pieces.
- 4
Blend the green puree
In a blender, combine the torn poblano, cilantro, parsley, the half onion (roughly chopped), garlic, and one cup of the warm broth. Blend on high until completely smooth and vivid green. You should have about two and a half cups of puree. If it is thicker than heavy cream, add a splash more broth. This is the cooking liquid for the rice, not a sauce, so it needs to pour.
- 5
Toast the rice in lard
Melt the lard in a heavy 3-quart pot or a wide cazuela over medium heat. La manteca es el sabor, even here. When the lard shimmers, add the dry rice and the whole onion quarter. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon for four to five minutes. The grains will turn from translucent to opaque white, then to a pale ivory with a few golden tips. You will smell something like toasted nuts. That is the signal. Skip this step and you have steamed rice, not arroz.
- 6
Add the puree and broth
Pour the green puree directly into the hot pot. It will sputter and seize. Stir for one full minute, letting the puree fry and darken slightly against the toasted rice. The kitchen should smell like roasted chile and toasted grain. Now add the remaining two cups of warm broth, the epazote sprig, and the salt. Stir once to settle the rice in an even layer. Do not stir again.
- 7
Cook covered, low and undisturbed
Bring the pot to a gentle simmer, then lower the heat to the lowest setting your stove will hold. Cover tightly with a well-fitting lid. Cook for 18 to 20 minutes. Do not lift the lid. Do not stir. You are trusting the steam to do its work. If you want to add the peas, scatter them across the top during the last five minutes and re-cover immediately.
If your lid is loose, lay a clean kitchen towel between pot and lid and weigh it down. A leaky pot gives you crunchy rice every time. No me vengas con atajos. - 8
Rest off the heat
Pull the pot off the heat, still covered, and let it sit untouched for 10 minutes. This is not optional. The grains finish absorbing the moisture and firm up in the residual heat. Lift the lid only at the end. Fluff with a fork from the edges inward, lifting rather than stirring. Pull out the epazote sprig and the whole onion quarter, they have done their job. Taste for salt.
- 9
Serve in a cazuela
Mound the rice in a clay cazuela or a wide talavera dish. Scatter crumbled queso fresco across the top and set lime wedges at the side. It eats as a side to chiles en nogada, mole poblano, or tinga, but in a poblana kitchen it is often the center of the table with a fried egg laid on top and a spoonful of frijoles refritos beside it. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
Chef Tips
- •The poblano must be charred over open flame or under a hot broiler, never sauteed. You are after the smoky depth that only comes from blistered skin. A nonstick pan will give you steamed chile and a flat puree. If your stove is electric, use the broiler set to high with the rack in the top position.
- •Use lard. The recipe is built around it. Mexican rice toasted in vegetable oil tastes like Mexican rice toasted in vegetable oil, which is to say, like nothing. La manteca es el sabor. If you absolutely cannot find lard, use chicken fat or butter, but understand you are making a compromise, not an upgrade.
- •Epazote is non-negotiable if you can find it. It grows wild across Mexico and increasingly in U.S. herb gardens. If your local mercado does not carry it, ask a poblano or oaxaqueño vendor where they buy theirs. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado. Without it, the rice tastes incomplete.
- •Long-grain rice only. Not basmati, not jasmine, not arborio. The grain has to be sturdy enough to hold its shape after 20 minutes covered. Mexican brands like Verde Valle or SOS work perfectly. American long-grain works fine too.
Advance Preparation
- •The green puree can be made up to one day ahead and refrigerated. Bring it to room temperature before adding it to the toasted rice so the pot temperature does not drop.
- •The chiles can be charred and peeled up to two days ahead and stored in a covered container in the refrigerator.
- •Cooked arroz verde keeps for three days refrigerated. Reheat in a covered pot over low heat with a splash of broth, or steam it briefly over simmering water. Do not microwave uncovered, the rice dries out and the green color fades.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 250g)
Calories
325 calories
Total Fat
7 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
4 g
Cholesterol
13 mg
Sodium
820 mg
Total Carbohydrates
55 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
8 g
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