Arroz con Coca Cola (Coca Cola Rice)

One day not too long ago, I had a hankerin' for pot roast. What I didn't really feel like, though, was the usual fixins that you get with pot roast. Not that there's anything wrong with carrots, potatoes, celery and onions that have been bathing in a nice, beefy broth for hours on end, slowly roasting to perfection. Or with a pot of egg noodles boiled in beef broth and ladled with a big helping of gravy. These are both delicious.

But on this particular day, I wanted neither.

So, I turned to the bookcase of cookbooks, or my "cookcase" if you will. I was having a pot roast, and I was going to make a gravy. Didn't want potatoes, didn't want noodles. I flipped idly through my cookbooks, and stopped on a likely suspect, a Latin dish called Coca Cola Rice.

So I gave it a shot. And with the roast, and the gravy, it was delicious.

Arroz Con Coca Cola / Coca Cola Rice

Serves 4 to 6

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups long grain white rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups cola
1/4 cup raisins
3 tablespoons sliced or slivered almonds, lightly toasted

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat for 1 minute. Add the rice and cook, stirring often, until it is opaque, roughly 2 minutes.

add teh salt tot eh cola and stir until dissolved - the salt helps release some of the carbonation. Add the cola to teh rice along with 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook until the liquid has almost completely evaporated, roughly 15 minutes. Stir in the raisins and almonds and reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Cover and cook until the rice is tender, about 25 minutes. Uncover, fluff with fork, and serve.

Source: Simply Delicioso, © 2008 Ingrid Hoffman

Notes from the Hare

I can attest to this dish being delicious even if you didn't actually have any raisins or almonds to add to it.

I made this with plain old Coca Cola, but Most any kind of cola would do - and depending on what you use, would probably alter the the taste of the final product. If I were serving this with a ham, I would probably use Dr. Pepper.

I might also consider playing with the add-ins - if I used Cherry Coke, for example, I might use dried cherries instead of raisins.

In the book, this is suggested as a perfect accompaniment with any slow roasted pork or beef dish.