Spanish Rice
This recipe for Spanish Rice is simple to make, easy to modify, and tastes wonderful. I love to make it just about any time I’m doing fajitas or tacos, but it’s also a great side dish for simple chicken dishes, or even with fish. What gives the rice that wonderful color is just a bit of tomato paste that I sauté along with some onions, garlic, and a few other ingredients before adding the rice. The flavors are mild, but very much present, and interesting. I also love recipes like this, because after 5 – 7 minutes of active cooking, you can simple cover the pot and walk away. Hope you enjoy it.
Recipe Overview and Keys to Success
The ingredients you use to flavor the Spanish rice are very flexible and you can suit them to your tastes. For the best results, just make sure you do the following:
- Add the dry rice to the sautéed tomato and spices and cook for 3 – 4 minute prior to adding the water. That technique will give the cooked rice more flavor and a better texture
- Once you put the cover on the rice, leave it on. Continually checking on the rice allows heat to escape and both prolongs cooking, and makes the rice cook unevenly
- Don’t stir the rice. Cooked rice is actually pretty delicate, and stirring it up will cause it to get mushy pretty quick. So leave it along until the end, and when it’s time to stir/scoop out, use a fork and treat it gently
SPANISH RICE
Ingredients- Half cup long grain rice
- 1 cup water
- 1 half onion finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 2 – 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 - 3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
- 1 jalepeno pepper finely diced (optional)
- Heat a sauce pan over medium high heat and coat the bottom with olive oil
- Add the onions, garlic, pepper and season with salt and pepper
- Sautee over medium heat until the onions are translucent
- Add the oregano and tomato paste, stir in, and cook for 3 – 5 minutes
- Add the dry rice, season again with salt and pepper, and stir to combine.
- Cook for another 3 – 5 minutes
- Add the water and stir to combine
- Bring to a simmer and cover
- Allow the rice to simmer, covered for at least 20 minutes before checking
- Check a few of the rice grains on the top, and then check every 5 minutes until they are just tender
- Add the chopped cilantro
- Turn the heat off, fluff the rice with a fork, and turn out into your serving bowl
Comments (3 )