Mexican Rice - a fiesta in your mouth

I spent many years of my life working in Tex-Mex restaurants. So many years, in fact, it is considered my favorite comfort food. As many Tex-Mex recipes and ingredients, as possible, are incorporated into my weekly meal planning.

I learned a LOT about various cooking techniques working early mornings with little ladies that made unbelievably amazing food day in and day out. It is truly your prep cooks that are the soul of the restaurant. I saw how to roll enchilada, make guacamole and pico de gallo, and, of course, how to make refried beans. My favorite recipe, though, is Mexican rice.

I am going to share my personal Mexican Rice recipe with you guys today. You are probably thinking that this is going to be difficult, but I promise it is much easier than you think. It is a fast moving recipe, so go ahead and gather (and measure) all of the ingredients before starting.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked white rice

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil

• 1 medium red onion, diced

• 1 small bell pepper, diced

• 1 large tomato, diced

• 1 Tbsp. chili powder

• 1 tsp. garlic powder

• 2 tsp. cumin

• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste

• 2 cups chicken stock

The first thing you want to do is pour the rice in a sieve and submerge the sieve in a bowl of water. Let the rice sit in the water for at least an hour, then rinse and set the rice to the side. This step is going to help get some of the starch off the rice, which will inevitably make your finished rice fluffier…..and less sticky.

In a heavy bottom pot, add the olive oil and turn the stove top on medium-high. When the oil starts to have a rippling appearance, add the onion and bell pepper, and cook until they start to become translucent. Stir in the rice, tomatoes, and dry spices. Stir constantly, until rice starts to brown.

Stir in the tomato paste until all of the ingredients are completely coated. Add the chicken stock and stir mixture well, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot. All of those little bits and pieces are flavor that you want swimming around the pot. Bring to a boil, lower temperature, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.

At this point, I will turn the heat off, take off the lid, and stir occasionally. The rice will start to fluff up and look yummy. The only thing left to do is pick what to have as your main course. I found a great recipe for Cream Cheese and Chicken Taquitos from Lil’ Luna. They were easy to make and I will totally make them again!

#soulfood #simplyeat #comfortfood #texmex #taquitos #mexicanrice