Simple 'Arroz Mexicano"

[navegator]

As the tittle implies it is not real Mexican rice but pretty good, since RV'S are not professional gourmet kitchen equipped and limited space to cook, we have a small electric rice cooker, so the most simple of methods to achieve something is best.

Basmati rice, or what ever rice you prefer
one small can of Herdez salsa casera
pinch of salt
water

We use this formula
one cup off rice in the rice cooker
can of salsa in the 2 cup measuring cup
add water to make two cups and a little more to compensate for the volume of the tomates, cebolla and chiles
place water with salsa in rice cooker
add a pinch of salt not to much just enough to bring some flavor
plug and turn on

Otherwise you can also cook your rice with the added can of salsa casera in any way you want, we use the rice cooker because my wife says that I burn water for coffee, so I am allowed to make the rice and burn the stakes, if you want to cook more authentic Mexican food get some of Diana Kennedy's cook books, she wrote some books tailor made for the Canadian and American market so that some of the ingredients that are not available in Canada or the States can be substituted and achieve the same taste and texture with the local available ingredients and the correct measures in cups, pounds and gallons? instead of liters, kilos and meters?

Enjoy the "Arroz Mexicano"

navegator

[navegator]

We go to the dessert and when the temperature is past 85*F cooking rice in the RV is not too good, so the rice cooker outside is the way to go, it does the job with out heating the inside at all, together with the outside grill.

Muy bueno señores.

On the other hand if you want to cook the "COMPLICATED" rice, then you need a casuela "open mouth jar or tray made of earthen wear" another bigger casuela to cook the rice, and you start by dropping some rice in the first casuela and you look for and get rid of stones, little branches and debris then you put that rice in the big casuela that has clean water and you let the rice soak awhile, mean time you prepare the salsa that is going in the rice when cooking, tomates, chiles, ajo and a cebolla all go in a hot "sarten" frying pan until they start to char a little then you add some water, just a little and make a salsa, rinse the rice and place a bit of lard in the "casuela para el arroz" normally made from the hood of a 1940's Chevy and heat until melted then add the rice and steer until it is just beginning to brown and add the salsa with the necessary amount of water and caldo de pollo, add diced carrots, peas and some corn and steer a bit adding some salt and let simmer until done.

If you are a good Mexican cook you would have ground the corn for the tortillas in a "metate" stone hand grinder and let it sit a bit, heat the comal "preferably made of barro and cured with cal" then you do what is known as "hechar las tortillas", make a ball of corn and with the hands and make a tortilla by shifting the corn from one hand to the other as you turn the tortilla with the hand motion, it is harder than what it seems, believe me and the salsa to go with the rice and tortillas has to be made wit a "molcajete" stone mortar, so you see a "simple arroz Mexicano" is easy to do I hate complicating my life, not the real McCoy just a McEasy, as I have mentioned before I can cook, anything that comes in a can I can cook, my wife is the one that went to cooking school in Germany.

How ever you want to cook the rice every country every region and ethnic area has it's own way of doing the cooking, the important thing for me is sampling the different cuisines and tastes, Mexico can be an incredible culinary experience as long as you have an open mind and taste every "platillo" at least once, then you can say that you have tasted the "platillos de Mexico"
and to finish I am going to have some pozole

Señoras y Señores, pasen una buena tarde y buen provecho.

navegator

[iguana07]

My family has been making what we call Spanish rice longer than I have been around. The recipe changes from family to family from region to region. Authentic is what they have available for ingredients. You can't just say one recipe is authentic. All cooked in frying pan no rice cookers allowed. My wife uses peas,carrots,corn chicken broth, and sometimes when the vegies aren't available she uses salsa or both. Depends on her mood. On the other hand my sister who was born in Mexico has a different recipe. These recipes are not on a flash card its been handed down.
I have had so many different dishes most all of them good.

[navegator]

If you want to make the arroz Mexicano a bit more authentic, add some peas and diced carrots and some corn and enjoy.

navegator

[navegator]

My mon used to make arroz con calabasas, make sure that you use the Mexican squash and not the Italian squash (Suckini), totally different taste, cut the calabasa cross cut and drop the round pieces in the rice before cooking, you can also use shrimp with the arroz, also with zanahorias (carrots), you can use some "Knorr" caldo de pollo, in the USA you can find Thelma small cubes of chicken broth that come from Israel and are not too salty for those of you that need to watch the salt intake, sorry Canadians I do not know what is sold in your stores to help much, but enjoy the good food.

I do miss a good moose steak with new potatoes and MÜRCLAR mushrooms in a white wine sauce and lingonberries , very Swedish fare, there are no moose in California or Mexico, so I have to settle for flank steak in the USA or arrachera in Mexico, marinated in dark beer and a little bit of chipotle and the next day on the grill.

Provecho señores.

navegator

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Mmmmmmmmmmm! Tengo Hambre!

Try a modification to widen the scope of Navegator's excellent receta.

Add pinches of chicken bouillon powder (caution very salty) to the mix.

When it's not a warm as it is now I seldom go two days without Mexican Rice. Mexican women are natural chefs. Just when I thought I had tasted every possible variation a chef plopped a plate of Mexican rice on the table that had scrambled egg crumbled into tiny bits!

Tip: When purchasing tiny cans of Herdez Salsa Casera beware of grabbing cans of Salsa tipo ranchera. Casera is five on the richter scale and ranchera is a solid 7.5 that'll have your ears light up.

Personally I rate Navegator's recipe, as "cinco nopales (5-stars)" very clever way to save time and effort in preparation.