Locrio (Dominican Chicken and Rice)

Instructions

Heat the frying oil in a large pot over high heat. Add the sugar and let it melt and turn light brown, watching closely so it does not burn. Stir with a metal or wooden utensil, since the sugar gets extremely hot and will melt plastic.

Add the chicken pieces to the caramel and brown them on all sides, then lift them out and set them aside. Put the garlic, onion and celery into the same pot and fry them.

Return the chicken to the pot along with the rice. Whisk the stock and tomato paste together until smooth, pour it over the rice, and stir in the salt, pepper, thyme, olives and the oregano if you are using it.

Taste the liquid for salt. If it seems right, add another ½ tsp, because the rice absorbs salt and will taste flat otherwise.

Bring the pot to a boil over high heat and boil, stirring now and then, until the liquid has been absorbed. Keep the heat high until then, since lowering it early can leave the rice undercooked.

Cover the pot, turn the heat down, and cook for 15 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle the 2 tbsp oil over the top, and stir so the rice from the top goes to the bottom. Cook 5 minutes more, and if the rice is still hard, stir again and give it another 5 minutes.

For a toasted bottom layer, turn the heat to high for a couple of minutes at the end. Sometimes the rice browns on its own, so judge by sight and smell.

To bake instead, heat the oven to 350°F and use an oven-proof pot. Cook on the stovetop until the rice absorbs the liquid, then cover and bake for 30 minutes. Stir in the 2 tbsp oil, bringing bottom rice to the top, and bake 20 minutes more, adding another 20 if the rice is not tender.