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Authentic Mexican Rice

What you need: 

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 cups cold water
1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
1 small roma tomato, chopped into about 4 pieces
hot pepper, sliced lengthwise (I use jalapeno)
1/4 cup (little less) tomato sauce
1 teaspoon comino seeds (cumin) ground into powder
1 tablespoon vegan chicken bouillon
salt, to taste

What you do: 

1. Put olive oil into a medium-sized pot and heat to a medium temperature. Add the rice and brown in the oil. Make sure all the rice is lightly coated with the oil.
2. You do not have to stir the rice around very much at first, while browning, but as the rice becomes browner you want to be stirring it around to make sure it all browns evenly and doesn't burn. It will turn brown. It's not burning unless it's turning dark/black. Towards the end of the browning, add the garlic so that it is sauteed/browned.
3. Next, dump the water on the rice (it will steam up loudly) and add the remaining ingredients. Stir well and cover (with a small air escape). Reduce heat to medium-low to medium, and let cook for 20-30 minutes. Check after 20 minutes.The essential part of this recipe is do not peek while the rice is cooking.
4. When it is ready, all the water will be absorbed, the rice will fluff, and each grain will be split open because of the browning. It should be dry, not saucy. You can adjust the spices/peppers to your taste.
Goes great with any manner of Mexican beans or as a side dish to Mexican entrees such as tacos, enchiladas, burritos, etc. Also great by itself! This dish is a staple in my house! It is cheap, easy, and yummy!
Source of recipe: This is an authentic recipe (other than the vegan chicken bouillon) passed down to me by my boyfriend's mother, a Mexican American who grew up in Texas right on the border with Mexico. Its as authentic as you can get! This is the type of rice I was raised on, and it is wonderful. Some people expect it to be spicier or richer. I wouldn't call it bland but it is a main staple simple dish, and it can be spiced or dressed up if you want, according to your taste. It's versatile!

Preparation Time: 
30-45 min
Cooking Time: 
Servings: 
6
Recipe Category: 

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Recipe submitted by makeinu

Re: Authentic Mexican Rice

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

This came out great.  I made a few modifications.  The biggest being that I used quinoa instead of rice but that was all I had.  Super yummy. ;)b

I've made this many times now, but one of the times I used red quinoa instead of the usual (Japanese) rice.  It was still good!

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great recipe! it has just enough flavor to make a complete and tasty meal rather than cooking plain old white rice.

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MMm, this was great!  It tasted just like the restaurant stuff here in Texas.
I made a few changes, I left out the pepper, because I didn't have one.  I threw in some cayenne pepper instead.  I also didn't have tomato sauce, but I had salsa!  So I figured that would make up for the no tomato sauce and lack of jalapeno. It turned out amazing!
Super quick and easy to make.  Fantastic!  Tasted great next to the Clayudas I made :)

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I thought this rice was delicious. I was expecting it to be similar to something from a Mexican restaurant but it was so much better!

I used brown rice, left out the chopped tomato, and used a pinch of red pepper flakes instead of the jalapeno pepper. It had to cook longer on account of the brown rice, probably about 20 minutes.

Pretty easy but a little time consuming, have to plan ahead.

All in all, great recipe, will use again!

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Perfectly delicious.  I love this recipe.  ;)b

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Wow! It really was authentic tasting, and didn't stay too wet. I used brown rice, so it was still a little chewy..but that was ok! I basically stuck with the recipe,  :o and we loved it.  ;)b

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I've made this a few times now and it's really easy to make and very tasty.

For the tomatoey ingredients I tend to just use chopped canned tomatoes and it's always been fine for me.

A really good recipe and one to keep in my list of staples.  Thanks  :)

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This was really nice.. I reduced it to one serving, using brown rice and additions of corn, green pepper and carrot. More like a vegetabley-rice dish after that! Lovely nonetheless. Only thing I find is that fresh chili doesn't go too well with rice.. maybe it's just me, but I think it's best to leave that out. I also sauteed the onions, garlic, chili and cumin with the rice at the beggining - always good to cook out spices. My dad had made pizza sauce previously so I used that for the tomato sauce. Veg buillon instead of stock. Served it with refried beans and a big green salad. Yum!
Only thing I would say is perhaps it's best to keep this dish as is, or limit the vegetables, for the sake of authenticity - the rice should be the star! But, vegetables add a lot in the taste, and health, department all the same.
Thanks..!

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hey, scsunnyd-- what are these 'oven crisp black bean and corn flautas' you speak of? they look gooood

Hey Laur b.
They are actually from www.vegetariantimes.com.  I thought I got it from this site, but since I didn't, I couldn't post the recipe.  If you have trouble finding the recipe, you can email me.  They were awesome, and paired with this rice, made the best meal I've had in a long time.  Even my boyfriend, an omni, raved about it!   ;)b

thanks!! i'll definitely try them : )

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This came out great.  I made a few modifications.  The biggest being that I used quinoa instead of rice but that was all I had.  Super yummy. ;)b

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