Restaurant-style Mexican rice
Toasty, tomato-red rice simmered with garlic and cumin, like the rice that comes with your favorite enchiladas, made in one pan.
- 45 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 6
- About $0.52 a serving
- 230 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. Whatever’s left keeps for tomorrow.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice, long-grain
- ½ white onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz can
- 1¾ cups vegetable broth
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp salt
Each serving has about 230 calories, 4 g protein, 41 g carbs and 5 g fat, and costs about $0.52 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No tomato sauce? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice in a strainer until the water runs mostly clear, then shake off as much water as you can.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Dolly’s tip: Drier rice toasts faster, so give the strainer a few good shakes.the onion and the garlic.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Heat the oil in a large with a lid over medium heat, add the rice, and often for 5 to 7 minutes, until most of the grains are light .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
Dolly’s tip: The grains go from white to see-through to golden. That toasty color is where the flavor comes from.Add the onion and garlic and 1 minute, .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
in the tomato sauce, broth, cumin and salt and over high heat.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low, and cook 20 minutes without lifting the lid.
Low heatTimer: 20 min
Take it off the heat and let it , covered, for 5 minutes.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 5 min
Fluff with a fork, scatter with cilantro, and serve.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
When you host a dinner, Dollop builds the menu around your guests’ allergies, works out a cooking timeline back from when everyone sits down, and puts it all on one grocery list.
