Thursday, April 30, 2009

Spanish Rice


Spanish rice or Mexican rice?

What's the difference?
IS there a difference?

After spending 15 minutes on Google, I gave up. Everyone has a different opinion. The most educated-sounding answer was that true Spanish rice contains saffron and Mexican rice contains cumin.



That came from Yahoo! Answers, so don't quote me on that.

But it sounded smart.

Anyways, here's some great Spanish rice.
Or should it be Mexican rice?


VERDICT:
Cost: Home
Convenience: Store
Taste: Home
Health: Home
Overall:
Homemade wins again. Browning the rice keeps it from becoming a mushy mess. Chicken broth adds SO much flavor. This is such a quick and easy recipe. I'm a Rice-A-Roni lover, but I think I have to concede to the homemade side. Aside from chopping the onion and pepper, it takes the same amount of time as Rice-A-Roni...plus it's minus all the random ingredients like MSG in Rice-A-Roni. Two thumbs up here. (Andy won't touch any form of rice, crazy man.)

Spanish Rice (4 LARGE servings, 30 minutes)

2 TB oil
1 c uncooked white rice
1 onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
2 c chicken broth or stock
1 10 oz can diced tomatoes and green chilis (do not drain)
1 tsp chili powder, to taste
1/2 tsp salt
Dash cumin, to taste

1. Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Saute rice, onion, and pepper until rice is brown.
2. Stir in broth and tomatoes. Add chili powder, salt, and cumin.
3. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
Notes:
*You can replace the broth with water, but I view the broth as the "magic ingredient".
*Rumor is that brown rice or minute rice can be used. Just adjust the cooking time.
*I keep chopped green pepper frozen, so I just toss in a handful.

6 comments:

  1. This is a great recipe! It has the perfect amount of flavor. Great side dish to any Mexican meal! I'll have to try it with brown rice sometime.

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  2. This was so tasty!!! I needed a quick side dish and I didn't have Rice-a -Roni so I decided to try your Spanish rice. It was outstanding and SOOOOOOOO easy. We all loved it!!!!!

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  3. There's no difference, if you cook it with rice cooker like I do. So, if you want to have more time and see no diffrence anymore, you have to buy rice cooker, as noted by cooker.guru

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