MEXICAN RICE

Earlier, during my college days, I used to cut and preserve the recipe sections from the newspaper. Little did I know, those old recipes, still very much with me, but,  in tattered condition, brown in color, are going to be useful for my blog!!
 I have made this several times, and my kids used to love this. This is quite a unique recipe, wherein, garlic and onion are being cooked to a soft texture, along with rice. I haven't come across such a recipe anywhere.  Normally we have seen garlic and onion being sauteed, ground etc...only in this recipe, I have seen such kind of cooking. This lends an extraordinary flavor to garlic and onions, and they also become so soft while getting cooked with rice. Also, I have substituted green  cabbage with red cabbage, which is richer  in fiber, vitamins and minerals and both cabbages are low in calories.
Mexican Rice is a combo of rice, fresh or dry beans, sauteed  crunchy vegetables.........with some flavors instilled into it......that's all. It is an awesome recipe, and I feel so happy to share this wonderful recipe with you all. I served it with fresh, home made Mango Salsa

                                                                       Ingredients
                                                                Basmati rice - 3/4 cup
                                                                       Water - 2 cups
                                                                Onion - 1, chopped fine
                                                             Garlic - 3 pods, chopped fine
                                                                    Olive oil - 3 tsps
                                           Fresh butter beans - 1/2 cup, pressure cooked for 5 minutes
                                                         Red cabbage - thinly sliced, 1/2 cup
                                                          Green bell pepper - 1, thinly sliced
                                                      Tomato - 1. thinly sliced, after deseeding
                                                                 Chilli powder - 1 tsp
                                                                  Soy sauce - 1 tsp
                                                                       Salt to taste

                                        Recipe Cuisine: Mexican; Category: Lunch/ dinner
                                            Prep time: 10mts; Cooking time: 40 mts

                                                                            Serves 2

                                               Fresh butter beans pressure cooked for 5-6 whistles

      Basmati rice washed, then soaked for 1/2 hour,  then you add the chopped  onions and garlic to the rice, and cook till done.

You may pressure cook the rice for 1-2 whistles, but this is how I do it..after steam starts coming out, I close the vent with a small cup, keep the flames on the lowest and cook for 30 minutes....you get such soft and still grainy rice.

like this...spread on a broad pan and let it cool down. Don't miss the softly cooked onions and garlic

All the thinly sliced veggies are added into the hot oil and sauteed on high flames

In the picture down below, you can see the veggies getting sauteed, cooked butter beans added, chilli powder and salt added, and lastly soy sauce added, mixed well and switched off.

The cooled rice added to this vegetable mixture, and .....

mixed well.

Serve the hot Mexican Rice with the chilled Mango Salsa and enjoy. A bowl of curds also goes well along.

This post first appeared in www.malpatskitchen.com

Notes

* If you do not get fresh butter beans, you can use the rajma or any kind of beans, soaked well in advance, cook and add. Mexican rice means, there must be a beans in it. Fresh or dried.

*Same thing with cabbage. Red or green does not matter.

How do you like this new recipe?Good???

Categories: International cuisine, Rice Varieties