White rice is tasty and convenient; however, it can get boring sometimes. This recipe will transform your traditional white rice into a dish full of flavor and seasoning. Mexican rice is relatively easy to make, and you can pull it off in a matter of minutes.
Meanwhile, the best thing about this recipe is that it's easy, full of flavor, vegan, and, most importantly, gluten-free.
Spices for flavor
What makes Mexican rice special is the spices that are used to make this dish delicious. We will be using the following spices, so make sure to have them in your pantry before starting:
- Black peppers powder
- Cumin Powder
- Turmeric Powder
- Coriander Powder
- Red Chili Sea salt
When buying spices, please make sure that they are labeled gluten-free as some brands have gluten sources in their spices mix. Some brands have a label on the back that says "may contain traces of soy and gluten." So please be careful.
Veggies
To make this recipe nutritious and even tastier, we will be adding a lot of vegetables. We will first be using red onions and garlic. This will infuse flavor to the rice while it's cooking and give this dish a solid foundation. Then we will be adding green and yellow sweet pepper to add colors to the plate.
What makes this dish really good is the red kidney beans. I personally use canned kidney beans that are soaked in water to save time, and they taste delicious. However, if you do use canned kidney beans, make sure to rinse them before use. Kidney beans are nutritious and are rich in protein and iron, making them an excellent meat substitute.
I can't imagine life without tomatoes. I use tomatoes in almost all my dinner recipes. To enrich the rice with flavor, we will be soaking it in tomato instead of water. For this recipe, all you need is one can of chopped tomato (400 grams). We will be diluting the acidity of the tomatoes with water and letting the rice cook in it.
What kind of rice to use?
There is a variety of rice to choose from, which can be confusing. However, for this recipe, I strongly recommend using Calrose rice. It is medium grained and tends to absorb moisture and flavor excellently. After cooking the rice, the rice will become soft and fluffy similar to the rice in Sushi. In our case, the rice will absorb all the spices and tomato juice, which will make our Mexican rice dish delicious.
In most Mexican rice recipes, people tend to use basmati rice, which is long-grained with a firm texture. However, it doesn't absorb flavor and moisture well compared to Calrose rice. However, if you do prefer to use basmati rice, you can give it a shot. Nevertheless, I can't promise that the results will be similar.
Easy Mexican Rice
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon of Olive Oil
- 2 Medium Sized Red Onions Chopped
- 4 Cloves of Garlic Chopped
- 1 Chopped Green Sweet-Pepper
- 1 Chopped Yellow Sweet-Pepper
- 400 grams of Red Kidney Beans soaked in water
- ½ teaspoon of Cumin Powder
- ½ teaspoon of Turmeric Powder
- ½ teaspoon of Black Pepper Powder
- ½ teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon of Salt
- A pinch of Red Chili Sea Salt (Optional)
- 2 tablespoon of tomato paste
- 1 Can of chopped tomato (400 grams)
- 2 Cups of Calrose rice
- 2 Cups of Boiled Water
Instructions
- In a bowl, rinse your rice and let it sit in water for about 30 minutes.
- Place your cooking pot on the stove at medium heat and add the olive oil. Let the olive oil sit for about 30 seconds to become hot before moving into step 3.
- Then add in the chopped onions and garlic and stir occasionally using a wooden spatula until the color of the onions and garlic become golden (about five minutes)
- Next, add in the chopped green and yellow sweet pepper and occasionally stir until the sweet peppers have become soft (about five minutes).
- Now, add in the rinsed kidney beans and spices.
- Afterwards, add in the tomato paste and chopped tomato can and mix everything until all is combined.
- Now, drain your rice from water and add it to the cooking pot.
- Immediately add two cups of boiled water and mix all the ingredients until everything is combined. Then close the cooking pan's lid and let the rice cook on the stove at medium-low heat for about 15 minutes or until all the water has dried out.
- After the water had dried out, close the stove and let the cooking pan with the lid sit for about 7 minutes before serving.
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