Mexican Rice

My husband is Dominican, so rice is something I cook every day. I thought I would try this to give a variation from white rice. It was excellent! However, for those of you who would rather not rinse your rice and still have it come out fluffy and not sticky, I can tell you exactly how to do it. It is the same way Dominican rice is cook. Follow steps 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7. YOU DO NOT NEED TO PUT IT IN TH OVEN. EVERYTHING IS COOKED ON THE STOVETOP. Allow all the water to boil out of the pot. When you see air holes in the rice and a wooden spoon can stand on its own in the rice, then you reduce the heat to medium low and cover the dutch oven with a tight fitting. Continue cooking the rice for 25 - 30 minutes. DO NOT REMOVE THE LID DURING THIS TIME. This method is great for cooking any type of rice dish and you only have. When rice is cooked properly, the grains will actually split open down the middle and have a firm texture to them, and that is exactly what happens when you cook rice by this method.

Bring the cows up and open the barn doors, cause' this recipe is gonna zap you right into delicious, dreamy, "give-me-the-dang-spoon-now", kinda trance. I have never in my born days tasted such tempting, tantalizing, and tremendous tasting rice or Mexican rice for that matter. I followed this exact. I had never washed long-grain rice before, and now, thanks to Potsie, I know the trick to great rice. You MUST wash the rice. It truly, and absolutely does make a difference. I was hoping and praying for leftovers, but nothing, nill, nada. Oh yes! I forgot, I didn't have tomato paste, so used canned tomatoes. It was ever so good, just wait and see. I might try some blacken/roasted/jalapeno/peppers next time, but this is perfect in every way.

I made this tonight with what I had of the ingredients and it was delisc and easy! I followed the directions up to step 6. I then place the stir-fried rice, garlic and jalapenos into my rice cooker adding the pureed tomatoes and onion and chicken broth. It turned out moist and full of flavor. Way easier than putting in the oven.

I just finished cleaning up after my family dinner party. I chose to have a Mexican buffet complete with chicken and beef fajitas, tacos, beef enchilada casserole, nachos, rice and beans, guacamole, pico de gallo and all the usual trimmings. Everything made from scratch! What a huge success! THE RICE WAS DELICIOUS! I followed the recipe except I doubled the recipe (I had over 20 dinner guests!) I used rotel tomatoes and I added a teaspoon of cumin and about a tablespoon of chili powder. It was fluffy and absolutely devine! Cooking it in the oven did the trick--no gloopy rice here! This will be my go-to Mexican rice recipe from now on!

I just made this recipe yesterday for my son's football team's pre-game meal. I made two batches of the single recipe, not knowing how doubling rice would turn out (I think the proportions are different when you multiply rice). Next time I will actually double it with the servings calculator and update my review, because I think it would help to have a large crowd review on the board. <br/>Anyhoo, I followed the recipe, but because of time constraints, I used a bottle of Herdez Medium Salsa instead of the tomatoes/onions/jalepenos, and made up the volume difference (to make 2 cups of tomatoes per recipe) with pureed canned tomatoes. I did find that I HAD TO FRY THE RICE FOR ALMOST 15 MINUTES to get it to the proper color. I think this is the most important step in the recipe for insuring that your rice will be fluffy, so don't quit at 6 minutes if the rice isn't light golden brown. I also added a tsp of cumin per recipe at the end of the fry time and stirred for a minute more. <br/>I put both single batches in one of the big dutch ovens I used to fry the rice, and baked for 40 minutes on 365?. I did stir the rice at the 15 minute mark and added thawed peas, carrots and corn. Then because I had an hour before I had to transport, I turned off the oven and let the rice sit in there to keep warm.<br/>THIS RICE TURNED OUT PERFECTLY! I am not hispanic, but even our hispanic players said this rice was better than their moms'! A couple of players thought they were eating at a restaurant :D We were scraping the bottom of the pan, and could have used another half recipe. We fed 32 people off of this double recipe, but could have used more. <br/>If you're considering this for a crowd, don't hesitate. It's so easy, esp. if you are using the bottled salsa. But err on the side of making too much, because they will want seconds or thirds!