How to Make White Rice, Arroz Blanco Venezuela-Style

White rice — the sure winner in any popularity contest judging the No. 1 Latino side dish — is a daily can’t-live-without for most of the Latino world. But it can’t be any old boiled white rice. It has to be arroz blanco made with amor, sabor and spices. Expect to see it include powdered or fresh onion or garlic (or both), and a spoonful of the sauce connecting it to the rest of the plate. Like the stew la carne is cooked in or the savory jugo from the beans.

The best friend of rice, of course, is beans (be they rojo or black or pink or pinto or … just about any color will do). Honestamente, the variations of what to eat rice with are sin fin: Endless.

For this 101 on how to make arroz blanco the authentic abuela way, we turn to one of our favorite cocineras from Venezuela, Liliana Hernandez, who regularly whips up dishes from her homeland on her Mi Show de Cocina YouTube channel. Rice is a starring ingredient in her pabelllón criollo, Venezuela’s national dish. Pabellón is a heaping, hearty plate of shredded beef called carne mechada, fried ripe-plantain tajadas, and black beans in a garlic, cilantro, dried chile and piloncillo sauce—all centered around a big scoop of fluffy, hot, white arroz.

And if you run into rice cooking problems, check out our tips for making rice that turns out perfectly every time. No more soggy rice!

Rice is also found on Liliana’s Illinois-home table for dinner on most non-pabellón nights. La cocinera Venezolana, Liliana says, usually has arepas baking in the oven and a pot of rice bubbling on her stove—ready to go. We especially love how Liliana, in addition to sauteing her rinsed rice with diced onion, garlic and a bay leaf, drops 3 cloves into the boiling rice liquid, giving her arroz an unexpected hit of Middleastern sabor we aren’t used to. To that we say: +1.

Of particular interest to this Puerto Rican homecook who only uses medium-grain rice (is there even another kind in Boricua cooking?) is Liliana’s call for long grain. So elegant. So exotic. Liliana also reports she alternates between using water and broth (in a 2:1 ratio—liquid to rice, she says) and that the broth can be either chicken or beef for más flavor: +1, again.

Observation: so often it’s the tiniest shifts in ingredients and techniques that shape how the cocina in one Latino nation differs from its vecinos and neighboring countries and islands. Liliana’s Venezuelan arroz is nothing like Gollita’s Essential Mexican Rice (made with diced peas, carrots, bouillon and her tomato-garlicky sauce: recaudo) by one of our favorite Mexican cooks, Gollita González.

Though, both use long grain. God is in the detalles.

Ready to Make Liliana’s Venezuelan Rice?

How to Make Liliana’s Arroz Blanco, White Rice Venezuelan-Style

Recipe by Liliana Hernández

5.0 from 1 vote

Cuisine: Venezuelan

Servings

4 to 6

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups white rice, long grain

• 2 to 3 Tbsp olive oil

• 1/2 onion, diced

• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 4 cups hot water or broth, either chicken or beef

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 bay leaf

• 3 cloves

Directions

• Rinse the rice in a colander under the faucet, until the water runs clear. Drain the rice and set aside.
• Finely chop the onion and garlic.
• In a heavy pot or pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.
• Saute the onion until it is translucent.
• Stir in the garlic and let it saute for a minute or two.
• Once you begin to smell the garlic’s aroma, stir in the bay leaf and cloves (both will be taken out once the rice is done, before serving).
• Add the rinsed rice and saute it with the ingredients already in the hot pan.
• Pour in the—make sure it is hot—liquid (either water or broth or a combo—your choice!). Add the salt to the pot. Stir.
• Bring the liquid to a boil for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the liquid has reduced a bit, you can see bubbles, and the rice grains are starting to poke through.
• Lower heat to its lowest setting and cover the pan. Cook for 15 minutes.
• Turn off the heat. Uncover the rice and remove the bay leaf and cloves. Cover again and let the pan sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
• It’s ready. Serve bien caliente—nice and hot, as a side with your favorite dishes.

Notes

• Don’t forget to rinse the rice until the water runs clear! This make your rice less starchy—and more fluffy.