A Hispanic woman whom I met at Anne Darling School in San Jose, California, when my son was attending Kindergarten there, told this basic Spanish rice recipe to me. In time, I customized it with the addition of black olives.
I have been making this rice recipe for many years now. There are only 4 basic food ingredients in the original recipe so it is quick to put together, and it does cook up fast. Because there are two vegetables in the original recipe, onion and tomato, and rice is a grain, this rice dish is a complete protein dish by itself. The amino acids in grains like rice, combined with the amino acids in vegetables, form complete, whole proteins.
The original recipe uses chopped fresh tomato, and I have to agree that using 2 or 3 cut up fresh tomatoes does taste good but I often find myself preferring to use a 15 oz can of unsalted, organic tomato bits for more tomato taste in the final product.
I have added something extra to this classic Mexican/Spanish rice dish. It is a can of medium sized, black olives, each olive cut into two pieces. I add the cut olives to the rice at the same time as I add the tomato. Adding black olive halves brings the number of ingredients in this simple recipe to five (5). In 2013 I have added a touch of green to this recipe in the form of a few sprigs of chopped, fresh celantro. Chopped celantro has a unique flavor of its' own, and this flavor compliments the flavor of the other ingredients in this recipe. Also, I am adding more chopped fresh garlic to my recipes now. In 2013 I have added 2 to 3 teaspoons of chopped, fresh garlic to this classic rice recipe.
Ingredients
Use 1-cup of your favorite dry rice; I prefer Basmati or Thai Jasmine but you can use any rice . As of 2013 I am cooking all of my rice recipes with brown rice because brown rice is much more nutritious than white rice.
A half of a fresh, medium sized Yellow onion chopped up into small pieces.
Tomatoes, fresh if you prefer fresh, or you can use a 15-ounce can of plain, unsalted, tomato bits. I prefer an organic canned product.
1 15 oz can of medium black olives, drained and sliced into halves
3 TB virgin olive oil to sauté the chopped onion, and to lightly cook the rice before adding either the fresh, cut-up tomatoes or the tomato bits, the sliced black olive halves, and the water. When white rice is lightly sautéed, it turns a solid white color that is less opaque than the color was before cooking.
One 2-cup bottle of water. You can use 2-cups of tap water if this is your preferance. The ratio of rice to water in this recipe is 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water. When using brown rice add about a quarter-cup additional water because brown rice needs to cook a few minutes longer than white rice in order for the rice to be tender.
Add no salt to this recipe because black olives do contain salt, and the other ingredients in this recipe have their own flavors. I feel that it is a good idea to allow each person to salt food to their own taste rather than risking over-salting the dish.
Method
Sauté the chopped, fresh onion in the 3 TB V.O. oil.
Add a cup of your favorite rice and sauté the rice with the onion until the rice turns white. Add the tomato, either fresh or canned, and the black olive halves, and stir.
Add the water.
Bring the heat up to a medium temperature so the water is at a slow boil, and then reduce the heat down to a low temperature and cover the pot with a lid. On my stove I reduce the heat down to 3 to finish cooking, which while this is a low temp, cooking will continue. The rice and vegetables will all cook together blending the flavors until all the water is absorbed. This takes around 20 minutes.
This rice dish is pretty to look at because of the colors in it, white or a white with light brown, red, black, and dark green, and it is a nice side dish to serve to both family and company because it tastes as good as it looks; plus it goes well as a side dish with both meat and vegetable entrees.
Copyright © 2010 - 2013 by Carol Garnier Dutra
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