Colombia Unit

Currently, I’m listening through the South American revolutions led by Simon Bolivar with my son, Superman. What will become the country of Colombia is right in the middle of it all, and so as we learned about Colombia I was thinking about all that I was hearing in Revolutions and comparing it to what was currently going on.

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Colombia Resources

I was surprised my library didn’t have any books to speak for Colombia. So we watched the Geography Now video and took lots of notes.

• Colombia facts for kids
• 11 facts on Colombia
• More Colombia for kids

Colombia Unit: Arroz con Pollo (Chicken and Rice)

It rather amazes me just how many ways there are to make a chicken and rice meal. Then I got to make the seasoning mix for the rice dish.

Okay, that recipe is not the rice dish I made, because that is a pork shoulder meal. This looks more like the correct recipe.

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon Goya with azrafan (recipe below)
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1/2 chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 chopped green bell pepper
• 2 cups long grain white rice
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 chicken bouillon tablets
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon goya with azafran

Sazon Goya with azafran

• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 tablespoons coriander
• 3 tablespoons annatto (I looked it up and you can use turmeric as a substitute)
• 1 tablespoon oregano

Mix all this together, you’ll end up with extra of the spice mix.

Let’s make this chicken and rice

1. Put the chicken in 5 cups of water, and the scallions, onion, garlic cloves, cumin, sazon Goya with azafran and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and then cook for 20-25 minutes.
2. While that is cooking heat the oil and cook the onions, garlic, and bell peppers. Cook until the onions are translucent about 4-5 minutes.
3. Add the rice, tomato paste, chicken bouilon and sazon goya. Stir the rice in, then add the chicken stock. Bring it all to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
4. Serve and enjoy!

This was a bit too bland for everyone. I tried adding a can of Rotel into the leftovers to try and make it better, but it didn’t help enough. On paper, this should be delicious, so I’m not sure why we didn’t like it. Maybe I should try it again, maybe my measurements were off?

Yield: 4-5 helpings

Colombian Chicken and Rice

Print

This Colombian chicken and rice lets you explore the food of Colombia.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon Goya with azrafan (recipe below)
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1/2 chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 chopped green bell pepper
• 2 cups long grain white rice
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 chicken bouillon tablets
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon goya with azafran
• Goya with azafran ingredients
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 tablespoons coriander
• 3 tablespoons annatto (I looked it up and you can use turmeric as a substitute)
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• Mix these spices together to form the goya with azafran spice mix

Instructions

1. Put the chicken in 5 cups of water, and the scallions, onion, garlic cloves, cumin, sazon Goya with azafran and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and then cook for 20-25 minutes.
2. While that is cooking heat the oil and cook the onions, garlic, and bell peppers. Cook until the onions are translucent about 4-5 minutes.
3. Add the rice, tomato paste, chicken bouillon and sazon goya. Stir the rice in, then add the chicken stock. Bring it all to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

Colombia Notebooking pages

I used the South America notebooking pages (I need to upload these, I’ll come back and add the link once it’s uploaded Done!) and we filled them in as we watched the Geography Now video.

I was quite amazed at how many locations were familiar from the Revolutions podcast. I kept thinking, hey I know that place and why it’s significant for their rebellion.

Colombia is a unique country because of its geography, it’s one of the few countries with shorelines on both the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean. It’s also where most people get their coffee from. Or maybe that’s not as true now that so many people buy niche coffee.

Sadly, one of the big resources from Colombia is drugs. I wish that weren’t true, but it is.

As I’m reading about this, I’m realizing I want to learn even more about the country because I don’t think I learned enough.

I’ll add this to my ever-growing list of places I want to know more about.

More geography lessons

• Lichtenstein Unit
• Bulgaria Unit
• Brunei Unit
• Romania Unit
• Albania Unit

“Cartagena, Colombia” by szeke is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0