Gringo Spanish Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups jasmine rice
- 2.5 cups water
- 1 cup loose salsa
- 0.25 cups taco sauce
- 3 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 large shallot, diced
- 2T olive oil
- 2t vegetable bullion
- 1t cumin
- 1t ancho chili powder
- 0.5t cracked black pepper
- 0.5t coriander
- 0.5t dried oregano
- 0.5t apple cider vinegar
- 0.2t Tabasco sauce
Process
Combine water, salsa, taco sauce, Tabasco, vinegar, and bullion. Reserve. Combine all dried herbs/spices. Reserve. Sweat shallots in olive oil over medium-low heat in a stainless steel rondeau for about 2 minutes, or just until translucent. Add garlic and spice mixture and bloom while stirring in oil for about 1 minute or until fragrant. Continuing to stir, add dry unrinsed rice and toast in oil for about 1 minute.
Add liquid mixture and bring to a gentle boil. Cover and reduce heat to lowest setting. Allow to cook for exactly 20 minutes without removing cover. Remove from heat and allow to sit for exactly 10 minutes without removing cover. After exactly 10 minutes have passed, immediately remove cover and gently fluff with a fork. Leave uncovered for at least 2 minutes to allow steam to escape before either serving or replacing cover to hold at temperature until service.
Notes
I’m not a terribly picky eater, but cheap Spanish rice is often one of the few places where I draw the line. As far as I am concerned, at certain well known Tex-Mex fast food chains as well as at various inexpensive “Mexican” sit-down restaurants, Spanish rice means gritty sludge mess that is ruining your otherwise delightful 7-layer burrito.
This is not that. This is a moist and flavorful pilaf of probably inauthentic Tex-Mex flavors that will make your burritos, nachos, and taco salads very happy. For salsa, I like to use Green Mountain Gringo medium or hot, but anything sufficiently “loose” should work fine. For bullion, I generally opt for Better than Bullion “Seasoned Vegetable Base,” but any bullion, or vegetable stock with a bit of salt, should be great.
Finally, under no circumstances should the rice be uncovered at any point during the cooking/resting process. Do not do it and absolutely do not do it and then complain about how it isn’t possible to cook rice on a stove top. Just this once, learn to stop caring and love the kitchen timer and everything will be fine.