Originally posted Oct 7, 2009 on old blog
When it comes to side dishes, just about anything will go along with a good pot of red – but we are particularly fond of having some rice to go along as a “side”. “Spanish Rice” seems to go particularly well and, naturally, goes well with any Mexican fare – so you can make quite a big batch and have it with several different meals.
The Lazy Man’s way to accomplish this:
Mix rice and one packet of Lipton’s Onion Soup mix in the steamer prior to adding water – steam rice as your normally would.
In a large pot, (or in my case a large cast iron Wok), sautee a finely diced onion with a can of diced green chilis.
Add a can of tomato sauce and spices as you desire. I like to add about a cup of Pace brand Picante Salsa at this point to give it a bit of extra “kick” – but you should consider that “optional”. (Naturally I toss in a few turns of fresh ground pepper, a little powdered garlic, chili powder and cumin “just because”).
Keep under high heat until just under boiling, then reduce the heat and add the steamed rice, mixing until all of the rice has been “touched” by the tomato sauce mixture.
This will keep in the refrigerator for about 3 to 4 days and microwaves just fine for re-heating with just a little water added.
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All ricers are different. Ours prepares 8 – 10 cups of rice. We have focused in on “Mahatma” brand white rice for this past year or so and our ricer “likes” 4 cups of rice to 6 cups of water – after it has cooked I let the rice set there and steam for about 15 minutes before using it.
Update – 2018: These days, we use rich purchased from the LDS Church on-line store, (we aren’t Mormon, but their store is open to the public and there are some great buys in there). We buy it by a boxed case of six Number 10 cans and have it delivered to our gate. We go through a lot of rice and it simply won’t go bad before its used.