This came out surprising well (def will do again)…
Had two day old rice in the fridge that I needed to eat, but I was making tacos so wanted Mexican rice. I thought “why not just do it like Chinese fried rice with different ingredients?”
1.) Get really good color on chopped onions and green peppers (2-3 Tbsp each) in EVOO, then add it all to rice.
2.) Add 1 Tbsp ancho chile powder, 1/2+ tsp ground cumin, pinch of salt and some freshly cracked black pepper.
3.) Add good glug jarred marinara sauce, and a few dashes Frank’s hot sauce, and a splash of water.
4.) Heat on medium/high until water starts to sizzle, then bring it all together stirring regularly for a couple/three minutes and serve (this made one large serving). Yum.
Thanks for this interesting approach.
While I haven’t made this in some time, i used to simply combine jarred salsa (like Pace or Ortega) with equal part water, or water and chicken broth, and use it for the liquid in cooking regular long grain rice. As in, combine washed rice with the liquid, bring to a boil, then cover tightly and let cook 15 minutes on very low heat. Off heat, stir and fluff, recover and let sit for 5 - 10 minutes. Done. This results in the kind of rice served in taquerias.
I do the same but add a pinch of turmeric for color, if I want yellow, or achiote, if I want red. The red makes people think it’s going to be picante; but it’s just color and a little earthiness. If I have leftover, I’ll do similar to the OP.
