Taco rice
Okinawa’s favorite comfort food: spiced taco beef over warm rice with crisp lettuce, tomato, cheese and salsa.
- 40 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $2.87 a serving
- 660 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice
- ½ yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups shredded lettuce
- 1 tomato, diced
- 1 cup shredded cheddar
- ½ cup salsa
From your pantry
- 2½ cups water, divided
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp dried oregano
Each serving has about 660 calories, 35 g protein, 65 g carbs and 28 g fat, and costs about $2.87 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 yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No shredded lettuce? Iceberg lettuce or romaine lettuce works.
- No tomatoes? Roma tomatoes work.
- No shredded cheddar? Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
- No salsa? Pico de gallo works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice until the water runs mostly clear. Put it in a with 2¼ cups water and ¼ teaspoon salt and over high.
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.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
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 to low and cook 18 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 18 min
While it cooks, 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 a large over medium-high and cook the beef and onion 7 to 8 minutes, breaking up the beef, until no pink is left. Spoon off the fat.
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.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, tomato paste and remaining ¾ teaspoon salt for 1 minute.
Medium heat
Add the last ¼ cup water and 2 minutes, until saucy.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Fill bowls with rice and top with the beef, lettuce, tomato, cheddar and a spoonful of salsa.
Dolly’s tip: The contrast is the point: hot rice and beef, cold crunchy lettuce.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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