Mexican Rice 1971 -

Curry, Mary M, and Betty Stiff. The World of Mexican Cooking. Los Angeles: Nash Pub, 1971. P 73. [TX716 .M4 C87 1971].

The World of Mexican Cooking (1971) by Mary Margaret Curry. UTSA Libraries Special Collections

Preparing this traditional food was simple, easy, and not too time consuming. As all the ingredients are available at any grocery store, it will not be hard to make it. Also, while choosing the type of rice at the store, make sure you go for long grain rice. I think the measurements in the recipe would have worked if I had chosen long grain rice instead of jasmine. Overall time to finish this simple dish was about 20-30 minutes.

Mexican Rice

This recipe is indispensable. Rice can be served with everything in this book except Arroz con Pollo, which has its own rice.

2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 cup rice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 small onion, finely grated
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin, powdered
1/3 8-oz. can tomato sauce
2 cups water

Sauté rice in cooking oil until golden. Add garlic and onion and sauté until onion is clear. Add salt, cumin, tomato sauce and water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for twenty-five to thirty minutes or until rice is done and rather dry. Do not stir or you will have mushy rice.

Initially I followed the directions as stated by the author, but as the rice didn’t boil with exact amount listed in the procedure, I had to add more water, tomato sauce, and spices.

First, add some oil in a pan and mix rice with it, sautéing until the rice turns into a brownish color. Make sure you don’t burn the rice! It took about 10 minutes for the rice to turn into brown color. I added the onion and garlic while I was sautéing the rice with oil. Make sure onions turn clear.

Initially, I added about 2 cups of water and 1/3 can of tomato sauce to the rice as it came to boil. However, the rice was not well cooked so I added an additional 1.5 cups of water later, then about 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce to match up with the taste. Also, make sure you do not stir the rice; it will turn out to be mushy! After the rice started to boil again it took about 10 minutes to complete the dish.

Finally after about thirty minutes of effort, I felt that the rice was pretty well done. Well cooked rice, with a near to perfection balance of the sauce and spices made this dish delicious. This would be a great side dish with any Mexican or Tex-Mex main course.