Chef Lupita
Asado Chiapaneco de Comitán
Comitán's special-occasion pork asado, cubed pork loin browned in manteca and braised in a thick chile ancho adobo with tomato, vinegar, olives, raisins, and warm spices.
Culinary Explorer
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Chiapas Chipilín Rice (Arroz con Chipilín)
Created by
Chiapas rice from the warm central valleys, fried first in manteca, then cooked with fresh chipilin leaves and tender white corn until the pot smells green, grassy, and unmistakably southern.
Main Dishes
Mexican
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
20 min
Active Time
25 min cook•45 min total
Yield4 to 6 servings
Chiapas, especially the warm Central Depression around Tuxtla Gutierrez and Chiapa de Corzo, is where this rice lives. Chipilin grows there like it belongs to the soil, a leafy legume herb with a grassy perfume you recognize the moment a market woman opens the bundle. In the municipal markets, the leaves sit next to tender white corn, black beans, and fresh cheese from the highlands. That is the map of this dish.
I learned this pot from a señora in Tuxtla who cooked it for lunch with frijoles negros and tortillas still puffed from the comal. She did not make it loud. No tomato, no chile in the rice, no pretending every Mexican dish has to burn your mouth. The chipilin does the talking. The corn gives sweetness when the season is right. If the elote is tired, leave it out. Cook what the market is selling today.
The technique is ordinary only if you don't pay attention. You rinse the rice, drain it well, and fry it in manteca until each grain turns pearly. Then the chipilin goes in, not blended into some green smoothie, but folded through the rice so the leaves perfume the pot. My mother, who was from Jalisco, had one note about chipilin in her notebook: 'not spinach.' She was right. Respect the leaf and the dish will taste like Chiapas. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Chipilin (Crotalaria longirostrata) is a Mesoamerican leafy legume eaten across Chiapas, Tabasco, Guatemala, and El Salvador long before national borders divided the region. Rice entered New Spain through Spanish colonial trade in the 16th century, so arroz con chipilin is a household meeting of an introduced grain with a local herb that never left the kitchens of the southeast. In Chiapas, the same leaf appears in tamales de chipilin, soups, and rice, especially around the warm central valleys where bunches of the herb move daily through municipal markets.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
long-grain white rice
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
fresh chipilin leaves and tender tips
Quantity
2 packed cups
stripped from tough stems
pork lard (manteca de cerdo)
Quantity
3 tablespoons
white onion
Quantity
1/2 small
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
minced or mashed to a paste
fresh white corn kernels (optional)
Quantity
1 cup
from 1 large ear
hot water or light chicken broth
Quantity
2 3/4 cups
kosher salt
Quantity
1 1/4 teaspoons, plus more to taste
queso crema de Chiapas or queso fresco (optional)
Quantity
1/2 cup
crumbled, for serving
frijoles negros de la olla
Quantity
for serving
salsa de chile de Simojovel (optional)
Quantity
for serving
hand-pressed corn tortillas
Quantity
for serving
warmed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| long-grain white rice | 1 1/2 cups |
| fresh chipilin leaves and tender tipsstripped from tough stems | 2 packed cups |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo) | 3 tablespoons |
| white onionfinely chopped | 1/2 small |
| garlic clovesminced or mashed to a paste | 2 |
| fresh white corn kernels (optional)from 1 large ear | 1 cup |
| hot water or light chicken broth | 2 3/4 cups |
| kosher salt | 1 1/4 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| queso crema de Chiapas or queso fresco (optional)crumbled, for serving | 1/2 cup |
| frijoles negros de la olla | for serving |
| salsa de chile de Simojovel (optional) | for serving |
| hand-pressed corn tortillaswarmed | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •12-inch clay cazuela from Amatenango del Valle or heavy 3-quart saucepan with a tight lid
- •Fine-mesh strainer for draining the rice
- •Wooden spoon
- •Clean kitchen towel for resting the covered pot
Instructions
- 1
Pick the chipilin
Strip the chipilin leaves and tender tips from the stems. Discard the tough stems. Wash the leaves in a bowl of cold water, lift them out so the grit stays behind, and dry them well. Chipilin is not spinach and it is not cilantro. It has its own green, bean-like perfume, and that is the reason this rice belongs to Chiapas.
Use culinary chipilin from a market or trusted grower. Do not forage random Crotalaria plants. The edible leaf is specific, and the señoras at the market know the difference. - 2
Rinse the rice
Rinse the rice in several changes of water until the water runs mostly clear. Drain it in a fine-mesh strainer for at least 15 minutes. Wet rice goes into the lard and turns pasty. Dry grains fry cleanly and stay separate. This is a small step that decides the whole pot.
- 3
Fry the grains
Melt the lard in a 12-inch clay cazuela or heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the drained rice and stir for 6 to 8 minutes, until the grains turn pearly and a few edges begin to show pale gold. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes more, until the onion softens and the garlic smells sweet, not browned. La manteca es el sabor. Use it.
- 4
Add leaves and corn
Stir in the chipilin leaves, the corn kernels if using, and the salt. Cook for about 1 minute, just until the leaves darken and collapse into the rice. The pot should smell grassy and warm, like a bundle of market herbs opening in your hands. Do not blend the leaves into a green paste. Arroz con chipilin should have flecks of leaf through the grains.
- 5
Simmer the rice
Pour in the hot water or light chicken broth and scrape the bottom once with a wooden spoon. Bring to a lively simmer, then cover tightly and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 18 minutes without lifting the lid. The rice needs quiet. Every time you open the pot, you steal heat and moisture from the grains.
- 6
Rest the pot
Turn off the heat and let the pot rest, still covered, for 10 minutes. If your lid drips water back onto the rice, place a clean kitchen towel under the lid after the pot is off the heat. The towel catches the condensation and keeps the top grains from going wet. Mexican rice is about separation, not mush.
- 7
Serve with beans
Fluff the rice gently with a fork. Taste for salt. Spoon it into a warm clay dish and scatter queso crema de Chiapas over the top if using. Serve with frijoles negros de la olla, corn tortillas, and salsa de chile de Simojovel on the table for the person who wants chile. The rice itself is about chipilin. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Chef Tips
- •Buy fresh chipilin at Mexican or Central American markets, especially from vendors who also sell hoja santa, fresh epazote, and quelites. If the vendor calls it chipilin, smell it. It should be grassy, green, and a little like fresh beans.
- •Frozen chipilin is a compromise, not an upgrade, but it works better than pretending spinach is the same leaf. Thaw it, squeeze it dry, and use about 1 packed cup.
- •Do not put chile into the rice just because you think Mexican food needs it. Put salsa de chile de Simojovel on the table. The rice stays gentle so the chipilin can be tasted.
- •If fresh white corn is sweet and tender, use it. If the ears are dry and starchy, skip them. Mexican grandmothers cook with what the mercado is selling today.
- •Let the rice rest before you fluff it. The grains finish cooking in their own heat, and that pause is what keeps the bottom from wetting the top.
Advance Preparation
- •The chipilin can be picked, washed, dried, and wrapped in a barely damp towel one day ahead. Keep it refrigerated in a loose bag so the leaves do not rot.
- •The rice can be rinsed and drained up to 2 hours ahead. Spread it on a tray if your kitchen is humid.
- •The finished rice is best the day it is made. To reheat, sprinkle with 1 or 2 tablespoons water, cover, and warm over low heat until the grains loosen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 200g)
Calories
300 calories
Total Fat
10 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
15 mg
Sodium
610 mg
Total Carbohydrates
44 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
8 g
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