Jul 07 2009
Chaulafan de pollo or Ecuadorian chicken fried rice
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Published by Laylita at 10:28 pm under Comfort food, Kid friendly, Main dishes, Poultry, Rice and pastas, South America
Some time ago I posted a recipe for arroz on pollo or chicken rice; while it was popular and I received good feedback on that recipe, the most common feedback was along the lines of “this is great, but where’s the other arroz con pollo or chaulafan de pollo?”. I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, sorry it’s so late for those requested it (but better late than never, right?).
Chaulafan is an Ecuadorian version of fried rice. There are many different types of chaulafan: shrimp, chicken, pork, mixed. In most major cities in Ecuador you will find chifas or Chinese restaurants, these are usually the best places to eat chaulafan; you can either eat at the restaurant or take it to go. When I was in high school in Loja, there was a chifa right across from the home of one of my best friends, it always made me so hungry every time I walked by that place.
As I mentioned before this particular chaulafan de pollo is very popular and is also known as arroz con pollo or rice with chicken. Another very popular chaulafan is one that has a combination of chicken, ham and pork. I did add a small amount of pancetta or bacon to this chaulafan, but feel free to leave it out if you don’t eat pork. One of my favorite parts about making this chaulafan is making the broth, it smells so good and reminds me of consome de pollo – a very tasty and simple chicken broth served with or without a piece of chicken plus chopped green onions and cilantro. It also reminds how great homemade chicken broth is, I always say that if I had enough free time I would never buy store bought broth again. However, that is never the case and taking busy schedules into consideration, for those who want to make a quick variation of this chaulafan you can use the meat from a store bought rotisserie chicken plus store bought chicken broth. I recommend serving this with avocado slices, hot sauce and some ketchup (yes, ketchup, if you have the spicy type it is the best).
Ingredients:
Chicken broth
5 lbs whole chicken, or assorted pieces
10 cups water
1 white onion, diced
2 carrots
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
5 cilantro sprigs
Salt to taste
Rice
1 tbs oil
2 tbs white onion, diced
3 ¼ cups chicken broth
3 cups uncooked rice
Salt to taste
Chaulafan
2-3 tbs oil or butter + 3 tbs butter
1 cup diced white onions
6 garlic cloves, crushed
4 oz pancetta or diced bacon
3 tbs finely chopped cilantro
2 tbs hot pepper powder
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp achiote powder
2 bell peppers (1 red and 1 green), diced
1 cup cooked peas
2 cooked carrots, diced (1 cup)
½ cup raisins
6 eggs, scrambled
7 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs Worcester sauce
3 tbs finely chopped cilantro/parsley
2 bunches scallions or green onions, finely chopped
Sides – avocado slices, aji or hot sauce, ketchup, curtido or pickled onions
Preparation:
- Bring the water, carrots, onions, celery and herbs to boil in a large pot, add the chicken and cook over medium heat for about 1 hour or until the chicken is very tender and fully cooked.
- Remove the chicken from the broth and save the broth.
- To cook the rice, heat the butter, add the onions and the rice, stir well. Then add the broth, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile debone the chicken and reserve the chicken meat for later.
- Heat the first 2-3 tbs butter or oil over medium heat in a large pan to prepare a refrito or base for the chaulafan.
- Add the chopped onions, diced pancetta, crushed garlic, 1 tbs Worcester sauce, 1 tbs soy sauce, cumin, cilantro, hot pepper powder, and achiote powder; cook for about 5-8 minutes or until the onions are soft.
- Add the cooked rice, chicken meat, and diced bell peppers. Stir well and cook over medium high heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the remaining soy sauce, remaining Worcester sauce, scrambled eggs, peas, carrots, raisins, mix well.
- Add the chopped herbs and green onions.
- Serve with avocado slices, aji or hot sauce, and ketchup (or spicy ketchup).
Another luscious recipe, thank you so much for sharing your vision and your expertise! Your photos are so beautiful – have you done a post about what equipment and lenses etc, that you use to make your images? It would be so great to learn more baout how you make such gorgeous pictures… of course, a lot just comes down to your ‘eye’ and your own particular styling, but if you feel like sharing some of your artistic secrets, I’m sure many of your followers would be all ears and eyes!
What a flavorful dish! Very appetizing!
Cheers,
Rosa
I’m so going to make this dish! Thanks!
Paz
Wow – this is the most elaborate fried rice I’ve ever seen! Even we Chinese don’t usually use broth to cook the rice. But this looks so so so delicious!
That looks amazing, and the photographs are beautiful. I like the idea of raisins in arroz chaufa.
I’m going to try it!
Wow. This looks amazing.
This is a elaborate version of the fried rice. In Indian cuisine we make Biryani which is equally elaborate as this one. Beautiful clicks.
I love all kinds of fried rice and have been known to eat fried rice for breakfast on a regular basis (simple egg fried rice)…. Your fried rice looks amazingly flavourful. Definitely a great party dish.
Thank you for sharing.
I am eager to make this, but is “hot pepper powder” the same as cayenne powder? And 2 Tablespoons? That sounds so extreme. And I love hot food.
Hi Susan – In Ecuador we have a a hot pepper powder that is very mild, the hot pepper powder is used both for flavor as well as to add some color to the dish. You can use your favorite hot pepper powder and adjust the amount base on how spicy you want it. You can also just use paprika if you prefer.
OH…my goodness!!!! This looks sooooo delicious! I have friends coming over this weekend and I was having problems thinking what to cook for them. I will definitely prepare this dish. Yummy! Thank you, Laylita.
¡Vamos a la chifa! When my wife and I went back to Ecuador in 2007…our last night in Quito, I had to find a Chifa so I could have some Ecuatorian Chaulofan. It was one of the best meals of our trip!!
Yummmmmy!!! Did you use regular long grain rice or Chinese rice ? this looks so good.
Thanks! I used long grain rice.
This rice dish looks INCREDIBLE. I wish I had some for dinner tonight.
Laylita, I absolutely adore your site. I’m of Mexican, Spanish, German, French and Native American descent and I love to discover new dishes from other Latino cultures. I feel that it brings me closer to my roots, even if I’m not Equadorian or Chilean or whatever… I still feel like we are one people and I find it so satisfying to know that our cuisines are so similar in the ingredients we use and the preparations. Thanks sooo much for your wonderful blog. The only bad thing is I wish you posted more often! ~Annalisa
Hi Laylita!
I want to tell you that I’m hosting an empanada making party inspired by your gorgeous blog and recipes. I’m going to try my best w/ your dough recipes and the others will bring their own fillings and we will bake away!
I’m sending my partygoers to your site for ideas and inspiration.
Thanks so much!
Kathy from AZ
This looks so delicious. I’m definitely going to try it. Just one question: you don’t chill the rice overnight like in most fried rice recipes? Doesn’t it get sticky?
Hi Amy – I didn’t chill the rice at all, I use long grain rice and also the way I cook it keeps it from getting sticky.
Your fried rice reminds me so much of the one we also make. Check out my guest post here, I think you’ll like it
http://rasamalaysia.com/chicken-fried-rice/
Hi, I found your site looking for “helados de paila” (which I’m going to try…)
I live in northern Italy where we use to eat a lot of rice (mainly in form of risotto) so I’m going to try some of your recipes (this one!) I don’t know anything about South American food but your recipes (and pictures) are making me really curious…
Finding nice food/cooking sites is always a pleasure!
(Sometimes I see plantains in supermarkets but I had no idea how to cook them, you recipe with mozzarella looks really good…:-D)
Thank you for sharing
CV
Wow wow wow! That picture watered my mouth. Thanks for the step by step instructions. You make it seem very approachable
I’m so jealous! How on earth can you make ‘rice’ look that good!!!!
I’ll definitely be making this soon, looks great.
Andy
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes with us!! I’m trying to teach my two girls how to cook and I was running out of recipes until now. I’m discovering new plates that I had heard of but never tried.
Keep on cooking and posting. –Margarita
This looks so good! Thanks for sharing
Laylita,
Soy de Ecuador tambien pero vivo en Alaska. No tengo palabras para describir la emocion que senti al encontrar tus recetas. Encontre tu blog buscando por Guatita!
Mi esposo es americano pero le encanta la comida ecuatoriana y al fin encuentro un lugar donde se ve se siente y hasta casi se huele (jaja) que es comida casera…
Gracias!! Gracias! Gracias!!!!!!!
Hola Laylita,
Es increible lo similar en la cocina Ecuatoriana y la Colombiana. Me encanta tu blog y tus fotos…..yo creo que quiero comer cada plato de los que tienes en tu pagina. Igual que tu tambien tengo un blog en ingles sobre comida Colombiana.
Sigue con el buen trabajo!
Love, love and love your blog.
Erica.
Your site is AMAZING! There are so many recipes here that I want to try – but I’m starting off with this fried rice recipe – I have to have it NOW! =)
Oh my gosh, as gorgeous as ever! I’m redoing my blogroll for the new blog and realized it’s been a while. Adding you to the list (I’m working on it as we speak). This looks amazing, and I *think* I can veganize it. Love it!
What a wonderful dish! Love the photos also!
YUM! The pressure is on for Guillermo to make me some arroz con pollo! I’m going to send him this recipe. wanted to let you know I linked to you in my post today–keep up the great work!
Xo
Oh, man, this looks like something I def want to eat!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING ECUADORIAN FOOD KNOWN AS A CULINARY FOOD, NOT JUST STREET CAR FARE. Me parece una cosa linda representar nuestra comida tipica como comida aya arriba con comidas frncesas e italianas. GRACIAS
Hi all. I made Laylita’s empanadas last night! Great recipe. Tks.
By the way…Where is Laylita?
I hope you come back soon.
Cheers.
Hi Juliana – I’ve been working a lot (started a new job in June and have grossly neglected this blog as a result), but will try to start posting more frequently (have a ton of recipes to post just no time to edit photos or write).
I was wondering the same thing, Juliana!
Glad all’s well, Layla.
Hi Laylita:
Nora
I just got this email from a friend of the family with your website link, and I had tried to teach my daugther how to cook some of ours Ecuadorian food. alway she make fun of my little of this and a little of that so this a great website for us
thank you for taken the time to put it together.
I love Chaulafan, I haven’t made it myself yet never knew the recipe but I think im going to try! I get Chaulafan from an ecuadorian restraunt down the street from my house all the time.
WOW!! Looks and sounds absolutely delicious!!! Love the photos!! I give you credit for snapping while cooking!
I’ll be back!!
Laylita your recepies are really really great. I’ve tried a few now and they have all turned out just fantastic. My husband is ecuadorian and says the dishes taste authentic and just like they do back home, which is the point really! Thanks for sharing all these delicious recepies. If you were to compile them into a book I would definitely make a purchase . . .