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Good mexican food is a thing to behold. NYC is noteworthy for having bad Mex. Just back from the west coast and craving some good mexican food. One of my favorite parts is the rice.
When you get a mexican meal, sometimes the rice is so good you can make a meal of it alone, other times, it is so "meh" you dont touch it.
who has a good recipe/secrets for making good mexican style rice at home???
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Cook stewed tomatoes, onions, and garlic together until everything is soft/disappeared. Add a little paprika and a tiny bit of cumin. Copious amounts of salt (the rice will absorb a lot of it and otherwise it will be bland). Quantity should be more or less the amount of water you would normally need for the rice (ie 1 to 1). I prefer only peas, but you can put corn in there too if you want.
Mix 3/4 the mixture into 1/4 the necessary chicken or veg stock. Heat/boil, put the rice in, stir. Cook uncovered stirring occasionally until the rice is about 75% done. Add the remaining 1/4 of the tomato mixture, mixing into the rice. Cover. If you are a pro, you can caramelize/barely burn the bottom like a paella, but that's pro level.
Its actually really easy.
El Pato
In fact, according to my friend Fernando who was born in Mexico City, his grandmother called Mexican rice paella. He always figured it was paella without all the expensive stuff.
damn, i'm hungry.
my wife dug up some recipe's at work today and is giving it a whirl in the kitchen right now. will report back with recipe and results!
First, make a salsa, preferably in a molcajete. I keep it simple. Onion, tomato, garlic, serrano, salt. Don't use Pace or anything like that. Second, grind up some cumin seed and black peppercorns together. Third, toast your rice in some oil in a hot pan. Add the ground cumin and pepper and stir it all around until it is nice and toasty. Now add chicken stock to the pan - the proper amount for whatever type of rice you are using. You could use water, but why? Dice a carrot, if you like, and throw that in. Add the salsa. Throw in an extra whole serrano, if you like. Stir everything up and cover it and let it simmer until it is cooked.
No corn, no peas. Just rice, spices and tomato.
the stuff my grandma made was pretty simple.
however rice is one of those things that can be kinda deceptively complicated to prepare well.
here are some pointers.
historically, this is a pilaf and the tech comes from moorish spain.
on rice: all rice have different timing and liquid needs. don't fuck this up. also, pay attention to what is going on as it cooks. (don't stir the pot pre-emptively, but do taste the rice as it cooks so you can nail the done-ness.) so yeah: read the directions.
rinse your rice well. several changes of water till it runs clear, kneeding gently as you go. You may disagree, but I have all these Japanese Grandmas on my side.
sofrito: sweat yellow onions, garlic, cumin, maybe a pinch of coriander. save your bacon fat for the beans, but schmaltz can be nice; whatever fat on hand is surely fine. cook at medium-ish heat, the goal is to develop sweetness as opposed to color so a gentle hand works best.
liquid: chicken broth+ tomato. my version has you taking a garden fresh tomato and running it over a cheese grater, omitting the skin, and using this 1:1 with a robust homemade chicken stock (saved conveniently in a plastic pint container in the freezer).
grandma threw in a can of whatever is handy (el pato? whatever was on sale at northgate? i forget.) and zazzes it up with some chicken bouillion cubes. (if your thrifty you can just use the juice and reserve the actual tomatoes for a sauce/braise/etc.) stay away from the stuff with basil. wood fired tomato whatever is fine.
i have made rich, fancy-pants marinaras and used that as a base also, but to me the fresh tomato flavor+touch of cumin is what makes this authentic.
more tips:
taste your broth for seasoning. if its under-seasoned your rice will be bland.
rice gets mushy when it steams out. to prevent this, you simply fluff it when its done cooking, leaving the lid OFF. once it cools a bit, you can put the lid back on to hold temp.
BUTTER. not too much, mind you; but even just plain old white rice that properly seasoned becomes much more delicious when you throw some butter into it. say: if i'm making a quart of rice, i would throw half a stick in with the broth.