Mexican Rice
I love to cook. But there are those nights (usually on the weekends) when the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven. Those are the nights we order in. (Yes, it’s true. Even I like someone else to do the cooking on occasion.) A lot of times we’ll order pizza… you know, kids. But there are plenty of times we order Mexican.
Both my boys love tacos, while Hubs and I love a good burrito. One of the best things about Southern California, there are plenty of great places to get a good taco or burrito; and you just can’t order a taco or burrito without a side of refried beans and rice. I love that rice. It’s tangy and salty and so… so good! It’s one of my favorite things to get when we order out.
But now the question is, how do I get that delicious rice when I make Mexican at home? Yes, it’s true, occasionally I make my own tacos or a quesadilla at home. I’ll even whip up a batch of tamales, thanks to Melissa’s tamale kit. But there’s always something missing. Sure, I can easily heat up a can of refried beans but they’re not my favorite. As I said the rice… the rice is my favorite. So, I decided to make my own version.
I looked up a bunch of recipes and discovered that most of them have a few things in common: they all have tomatoes, they all have chopped onion and they all have chicken stock. So, I took everything that I read and made up my own recipe. The result was really, really good and really, really easy. So, easy in fact that I’ll happily make whenever I choose to whip up another batch of tamales or tacos or anything else Mexican related.
But you wanna know the best thing about this rice? The best thing is it’s vegetarian. Yup… not one ounce of meat anywhere. While all the recipes called for chicken stock, I used vegetable. I mean, if there are no pieces of chicken or meat in the rice, why use chicken stock? Vegetable stock is just as good, and this way vegetarians can enjoy the rice with everyone else. Having had plenty of Mexican or Spanish rice over the years, I honestly didn’t taste any difference between the rice made with chicken stock and the one made with vegetable stock. And since it’s all veg in the rice anyway, all those savory flavors from the tomatoes to the peas and onions melded quite well with the veggie stock, making for one seriously tasty side dish. A side dish worthy of the most popular Mexican holiday in the United States.
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups long grain white rice
- 1 (14 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1-2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the vegetable stock in a large sauce pan over medium heat until it starts to simmer.
- While the stock heats up, heat the oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, another minute. Stir in the rice and cook until toasted, about 2 minutes.
- Transfer the rice mixture to the pan with the vegetable stock. Stir in the tomatoes. Reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, until all the liquid has evaporated and rice is done, about 15 minutes. About 2 minutes before the rice is done, stir in the peas.
- Remove from heat and fluff the rice with a fork. Stir in the lime juice and cilantro. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with lime wedges.
