Spanish Rice

It’s that time of year where everyone is starting to cook more Mexican/Spanish recipes for Cinco de Mayo. I am jumping on the bandwagon; however, I cook Mexican dishes all year long.

This is a rather simple recipe. Back in the day, my family would just make the Rice-a-Roni (the San Francisco Treat ding ding) Spanish Rice and then call it a day. This recipe comes from a cookbook titled “Cooking Basics,”   in which it gives simple recipes that the novice cook can make. It is not overly complicated and the ingredients are simple.

Over the years, I have modified the recipe to suite my needs; and I would say that this recipe is the one that I continually make over and over without modifying same.

Sometimes you can even turn this recipe into a “meal” by added left over taco meat or chicken fajita meat. Mind you, that if you do this, do so after the rice cooks so that the seasonings of your taco meat or chicken fajita meat do not overpower/drown out the seasoning of the Spanish rice.

Michigan Ingredient: Meijer Tomato Sauce and Meijer Diced Tomatoes

( Meijer was founded in Greenville, Michigan and the fact that the name brand is great and affordable is an added bonus 🙂 )

First things first, chop up your green peppers and onion and mince your garlic (if you are using real… if you don’t have real, it’s ok to substitute garlic powder).  Sometimes people feel it is necessary to wait to add the garlic when you saute your onion (and in this case green pepper), but I live on the wild side and never do that. Anytime there is a time where onion and garlic are to be sauted, I always combine them at once and have never had a problem.

Saute your veggies with your rice until the veggies are soft and the rice starts to brown. You can use either white rice or brown or a combination. The recipe works with either rice.

Add the remaining ingredients and bring the mixture to a boil. Cover and simmer over medium-low to low heat for 30 to 40 minutes. I know that the heat range seems a little odd, but I noticed that when cooking on a gas stove, low is perfect; however, cooking on an electric stove, you need a little bit more “juice” so that it doesn’t take forever to cook.

If you are making this into a meal, you would then add your left over meat (heated up of course) and serve.

5.0 from 2 reviews

Spanish Rice

 

Author:

Michigan from Scratch

Recipe type: Side Dish/Main Meal

Cuisine: Mexican

Serves: 5-7 servings

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 50 mins

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Ingredients

• ⅛ teaspoon of Garlic Powder or Small Clove of Garlic
• 1 Medium sized Onion
• 1 Green Bell Pepper
• 1 cup of Rice (Brown or White)
• 2 tablespoons of oil
• 2¼ cups Water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon o f Chili Powder
• 1 15 oz. can of Tomato Sauce
• 1 14.5 oz can of diced Mexican Tomatoes/Tomatoes with Green Chilies (undrained)

Instructions

1. Dice up your onion and green pepper. If you are using real garlic, mince up same.
2. Pour your oil into a dutch oven or large covered skillet and add your veggies and rice. Saute.
3. Once your veggies are softened and your rice starts to brown, add your water, seasonings, tomato sauce and diced Mexican tomatoes. Bring mixture to a boil.
4. Cover and simmer over medium low to low for 30 to 40 minutes. Sauce will thicken upon standing.

Notes

Note: This can be made into a meal by adding left over taco or chicken fajita meat. Be sure to add the meat after the Spanish Rice has cooked so that seasonings of your meat do not overpower the rice.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Basics

3.5.3208