For years, I used to make Spanish rice from one of those processed packaged versions until I really looked closely at the ingredients. There were things in it that I didn't want to feed my family, so I looked for an alternative and found this fantastic recipe. It's easy, you can adapt it by adding more vegetables, spices, your favourite salsa, and more. My family loves it and often this is found on the table whenever I make tacos and nachos, or I even roll it up in a soft tortilla with some chopped chicken. As an added bonus, it goes great in lunches for school!
Ingredients:
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup diced red pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 1/3 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup long grain white rice
1 cup your favourite salsa (the more flavour it has, the better the rice will be. I like Newman's Own Black bean and corn)
1/2 tsp each chili powder and ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt and black pepper
chopped fresh cilantro
In a large saucepan, drizzle some oil on the bottom and set over medium heat to warm up. When the oil is hot, toss in your onion, sweet red pepper, and garlic. Stir around and let it cook until the onions are clear and soft, about 5 minutes or so. Stir in the rice, chicken broth, salsa, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and partially cover. Cook another 25-30 minutes until tender and all the liquid is absorbed. Remove from the heat, fluff with a fork, and serve!
Serves six
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