Instant Pot Mexican Rice

Alongside Instant Pot refried black beans.

I've tried making Mexican rice many times, and I've always failed. I think it's because the tomato/moisture ratio has to be just right, to avoid a mushy mess? Anyway, I'm so happy to finally have succeeded enough to save this recipe. I think there's room for improvement, but this was great next to some refried beans.

It is noteworthy that I liked the cooked carrots in it. I don't usually like cooked carrots. But the way these were cooked, in the instant pot with all of the other flavors in there, made them perfectly seasoned and delicious.

I followed this recipe from Tastes Better From Scratch. My changes were that I increased the amount of rice and water to make a bit more, I left out the peas and I used a packet of Trader Joe's chicken stock concentrate instead of tomato bouillon. I might look for tomato bouillon for next time, though! Also, it didn't specify what type of rice to use, but I used basmati.

The Recipe:

2 c basmati rice

1/4 c vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 medium onion, diced finely

1-2 tomatoes, pureed

1 packet chicken bouillon, or 2 tomato bouillon cubes

1/4 tsp salt

1 carrot, diced

2 c water

Rinse the rice until the water runs clean
In the instant pot, saute the rice in oil for about 5 minutes
Add the garlic, onion, tomato, bouillon, salt, and carrot. Stir and saute 1 minute.
Add the water and stir well until bouillon is dissolved.
Set Instant Pot to pressure cook for 3 minutes. Natural release.

The Verdict:

Overall grade: B

Overall reason: Not as good as restaurant rice, but tasty. I'll keep learning.

Time to prepare: 30 minutes

Husband quote: "I like the color!"

Comments

Curry Fried Rice

Excited for these leftovers. One of the things I wanted to try with my new jar of curry powder was fried rice. Years ago, Miles got fried rice at Korea House and it was the best fried rice I'd ever had. I suspected there was curry powder in it, but at that time I had never really cooked with curry powder, so I tucked that knowledge away for a later date. After reading a few recipes, I went rogue on this one. I couldn't even begin to effectively guess at what proportions I ended up with, so the recipe below is more of a rough guideline of ingredients. The "Recipe" (sorry no quantities; follow your heart): leftover jasmine rice tofu, cubed and crisped in the oven with avocado oil and salt vegetables: garlic, onion, cabbage, red bell pepper salt curry powder (I used a Vietnamese one) soy sauce sugar sesame oil future topping ideas: runny egg, sesame seeds, green onion Saute the vegetables in avocado oil until softened, and salt them to taste Add the tofu and toss to...

Samosa Burritos

Imagine a pile of plain yogurt and some Indian pickle for dipping I saw a Pinterest recipe for samosa-filled quesadillas, which led me to this recipe from Nadia's Healthy Kitchen for baked samosas using tortillas, which led me to just use the giant tortillas I had in the fridge and make them into full-sized burritos. They were a hit! I largely followed the recipe from Nadia's Healthy Kitchen, but I added some potato, omitted the chana masala powder and just added a bunch of cumin instead, added bell pepper and fresh chilies, didn't bother with the "sealing paste," and basted them in a little bit of melted butter (omit for vegan version). Everyone except the 5-year-old liked them! The Recipe (adapted from Nadia's Healthy Kitchen ) 2 cans (30 oz total) cooked garbanzo beans, rinsed (I eyeballed the equivalent from dry beans) 1 small onion, chopped 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 thai chili, minced 1 bell pepper, chopped 1 potato, baked until soft (or microwaved for...

Kitchen renovation!

BEFORE: AFTER: Still to come: a beautiful new induction range and some wood shelving on the left side, above the backsplash. And maybe the shelving unit on the wall facing the cabinets should be green, but we're going to live with a while before making that decision.

Adventures of a healthy-ish pseudo-foodie

Search This Blog