Thus begins a Mexican food trilogy. As I'm cooking this in Beirut, I'm not shooting for accuracy here, so let's not get snooty about this - it tastes good, which is all that matters.
Mexican cooking typically takes more attention than effort. In fact, like all good peasant cooking, it basically involves chopping a combination of tomatoes, onion and garlic, putting them in a pot at various times with fat, other condiments and spices, and letting them stew until they form a delicious mush. It's a proven fact that the closer Mexican food looks to something that has already exited your body, the better it will likely taste going into it.
The roots of Mexican rice go back to the Spanish conquest and importation of Spanish rice into Veracruz in the 1520s. Fortunately for the bloodthirsty Spanish hordes, the climate was ideal for the cultivation of this particularly thirsty plant, which, of all the grains, is definitely the biggest pain in the ass to grow. Since the Spaniards couldn't get Saffron for their meals, they used local ingredients like tomatoes to make the rice taste less unappetizing. From this blossomed the most popular side dish to leave untouched on your plate in the history of Mexican cuisine.
Contrary to popular opinion, this is actually easy to make. But allow me to offer three tips:
1. Make your base beforehand
2. Fry your rice
3. Don't fiddle with it.
So what's this "base" of which I speak? Basically, it's blended salsa, which you can make in quantity and freeze or eat like salsa. Here's what I do:
Ingredients:
1 large onion
4 tomatoes
1/2 red bell pepper
1-2 jalapenos (serranos also have a nice flavor if you like heat)
5 cloves garlic
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp Mexican oregano
2 tbsp minced cilantro
2 tbsp olive oil
lime juice
salt to taste
Process:
1. Chop up the vegetables, seeding your peppers and tomatoes. Combine the onion and peppers and putting the tomatoes and garlic in separate bowls.
2. Soften the onion and pepper mix on medium heat in some olive oil, then dump in your spices. Stir up a bit in the oil to free up your little aromatic molecules then add the tomatoes. Cover and let cook down a bit.
3. After 15 minutes, turn off the heat and let it cool, then toss it into a blender, adding the cilantro, garlic and lime juice and puree it all. Taste it for proper saltiness, and put it aside - the flavors will change as everything mixes together. Use it for salsa, in guacamole, or as a base for your Mexican dishes. It's quite tasty.
Now onto the Rice. At this point it's really freaking easy.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups short grain rice (as sold in creepy bins constantly touched by unwashed child hands in Food City, or use Basmati. Definitely not Uncle Ben's style parboiled rice)
1 1/2 cups of Mexican base
1 small carrot, finely cubed
1/4 cup of canned corn plus a little of the juice
<2 cups of good chicken broth or water if you're boring. Just kidding. I use water usually.
3-4 tbsp vegetable oil or lard (coat bottom of pan)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1.5 tbsp chili powder
salt
a squeeze of lime juice
Steps:
1. Heat oil in a pot on medium heat and throw in the rice. This will prevent it from getting all gooey and starchy when you cook it down. If you don't do this step, your rice will suck and dingoes will carry off your first born, no matter how old he or she is.
2. Add in the base, carrots and chili powder and stir it around to mix. It'll start bubbling a bit, at which point add in the water or broth, corn and the vinegar. Stir it, wait for it to come to a boil, then cover and turn down to a simmer. It should cook for about 15 minutes this way. If the heat is too high, you'll boil off the water and have hard rice. If this happens, add more water. If the heat is too low, you'll get mush. So try to keep an eye on things.
3. Now leave it alone.
4. When the water boils down to where you can't see it on top of the rice anymore, grab a few grains from the top and taste them. If they're still pretty uncooked, add a splash of water and cover again. If not, cover it and let it cook until it stops steaming under the lid - for extra flavor, let it cook a bit longer to slightly burn the bottom. Trust me.
5. Cover for 10 minutes, then squeeze some lime juice on it and fluff it (stop it, I know what you're thinking) with a fork and use a spoon to scrape the bottom of char and congealed tomatoes. This is flavor, don't fear it. Cover again for a few minutes.
Serve with beans, tortillas and a main dish. It's delightful.
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