from Kris B.
When I was a kid we did not eat out very often. My mom fixed dinner every night - usually meat, potatoes or rice, and a vegetable or two. I know exactly what is meant by the restaurants who advertise that they serve homestyle cooking. The side affect to my culinary upbringing is that we never ate ethnic food. The phrase “Let’s get Chinese take-out” was never uttered a our house. The only Chinese food I knew was La Choy chow mein that came in the double stacked cans that were taped together. How many of you remember those? The only Mexican food I knew was Taco Bell and I think I was in high school before I even knew about that. Then I moved to Texas and the world of ethnic food opened up for me. Tacos, and nachos, and burritos..oh my!
I quickly discovered that I really love Tex-Mex. Well, what I really love are tortillas and rice. Going back to my childhood, the only rice I knew was Minute rice. I’ll admit it. I loved that too. When I realized that every Tex-Mex meal is served with rice, and usually tortillas, I became a very happy “Texan.” The bad thing about Tex-Mex though is that it does not rate well when it comes to daily recommended servings of vegetables. One can only eat so much salsa and call it a serving of vegetables.
Over the thirty years that I have now lived in Texas, I have progressed beyond Taco Bell in my choice of Mexican restaurants and have learned to make many of my favorite Tex-Mex dishes. (The one that I will never master is tamales. The best tamales can only be made by an abuela. Rice, however, can be made by just about anyone. LOL!
Unlike traditional Spanish rice, which is not hot at all, the Green Chile Rice recipe that I am sharing with you this week has a nice kick to it thanks to the jalapeño and two poblano chile peppers that it uses. (This recipe is based on the recipe by the same name in The Homesick Texan by Lisa Fain.)
As my age has increased, so has my tolerance and fondness for spicy hot food.
INGREDIENTS
2 poblano peppers
1 jalapeño
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup cilantro
2 TBS lime juice
1 1/2 TBS vegetable oil
2 cups uncooked white rice
2 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
1/2 cup water
The first step is to roast the poblano peppers. Place them in a shallow baking dish. Broil them for approximately five minutes on each side. The skins will turn black.
Remove them from the oven a place them in either a paper back or a plastic zipper bag for twenty minutes. Take them from the bag and “rub” the skin off. It should slide or peel off easily. Admittedly, the poor peppers are rather sad looking at this point in the process.
They sort of resemble a troll whose feet are in serious need of a spa treatment. Don’t let that be a deterrent to trying this recipe:-)
Remove the stems and seeds and rough chop both the poblano and jalapeño peppers. It is the seeds that pack the most heat, so if you are not a fan of super hot food, makes sure to remove all of the seeds!
Place the peppers, garlic, cumin, cilantro, lime juice and a tablespoon of water in a food processor or blender. Process until you have a thick green paste.
Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy pot on medium low heat. Add the rice and sauté for thirty seconds. Add the chile puree. Cook for another minute while continuously stirring. Then add the broth and 1/2 of water. (The original recipe calls for chicken stock. To accommodate our resident vegetarian, I use vegetable stock.) Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover. Turn the heat to low and cook for twenty minutes more. Remove from heat and let the rice sit covered for ten more minutes. Add salt to taste. Stir.
This rice is tasty as a side with almost anything.
If you really don’t like the heat from the peppers, you can omit them and still have a tasty cilantro-lime rice. If you do this, increase the amount of cilantro to a cup and add a little more lime juice.
Enjoy!
from Tracey G.
I have been through so many rice pudding recipes, all pretty good too - but for some reason I settled on this one as my go-to recipe. I think it's because it's super easy, and takes so little time to make - the longest part of it is the 30 minute wait after it comes off the stove. I came to making rice pudding kind of late, maybe just started about 10 years ago. Just always seemed like it would be something really difficult to do - it's not, but I guess I just had that stuck in head that it would be, lol. Once I tried making it, I began the search for one that was both easy and yummy, it took awhile - and few recipes later, I stumbled upon this one - it was from Minute Rice of all places, lol. Now, I've had rice pudding recipes with both instant rice and regular rice (even arborio for one recipe) and I can say I like both. I was unsure about the instant rice for texture purposes, but it's fine when it's all said and done. ;-)
The ingredients couldn't be simpler, instant rice, vanilla, sugar, salt, milk and eggs. I usually have all the stuff around all the time anyway, so it's a snap when I want to make something quick and last-minute for dessert.
First, you combine the rice, sugar, salt and milk in a medium saucepan.
Next, you bring it to a boil stirring constantly - once it's boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 6 minutes stirring occasionally.
While the milk-rice mixture is simmering, whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a small to medium sized bowl. I used a small one and my small whisk, usually works pretty well.
When the 6 minute cook time is up, stir a small amount of the hot milk-rice mixture into the eggs and vanilla - thereby tempering the eggs so you don't end up with scrambled eggs when you add them to the hot milk-rice mixture, lol, not a good thing! :-D
Once you temper the egg-vanilla mixture, add that slowly back into the pan with the hot milk-rice mixture. Now you cook, stirring constantly for about 1 minute or until thickened. DO NOT BOIL.
Last step is to remove from heat and let stand for 30 min, and then serve warm! I've also noticed that if I let it sit a little longer before serving or eat the next day, it will dry out a bit. So, I just add some milk until I get it back to as creamy as I'd like. :-) You can serve with cinnamon on top - Harry likes it that way, but, I like it without, lol. Just plain for me thanks :-) And I suppose you could add raisins if that's what you'd like, lol, but you won't see me with them in or on mine, lol!
Here's the recipe:
Easy Rice Pudding
3 c milk
1 c instant rice
1/4 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla (a lot of times I add one more tsp and make it a tbsp ;-) )
1) Combine milk, rice, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 6 minutes stirring occasionally.
2) Beat eggs and vanilla in a small bowl. Stir in a small amount of hot mixture into eggs. Stirring constantly, slowly pour egg mixture back into hot rice mixture. Stirring constantly, cook on low heat 1 minute until thickened. DO NOT BOIL.
Remove from heat and let stand 30 minutes, serve warm.
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