This is a staple side dish to have on hand when making Mexican food. It goes great on taco salads, burritos and with fajitas. Again, I used to use a seasoning packet and just dump it in with rice and boom, presto, whatever, done! To challenge myself I decided to make it from scratch. It wasn’t really a challenge after all, so simple to make!

I took a sort of Indian approach to making the rice by blooming the spices. Blooming is when you cook spices in oil to release their flavors. Not sure if that is how its traditionally done but it made the rice much more flavorful than some other Mexican rice I have tasted. 

Side Note: You can substitute chicken stock or broth for the chicken bullion if you’re concerned about the sodium. I don’t have that concern, although I probably should but you know, YOLO. Ew… Sorry…. Not Sorry.

Start by heating some oil in a pan, then add the bullion and fajita spice mix (recipe at end of post).

Once the spices are fragrant add in the tomatoes and sauté for about a minute.

Then add in the water, tomato sauce and cilantro and let simmer for a few minutes.

Then measure out 2 cups of the liquid and reserve the rest for later (it keeps in the fridge for up to a week).

Return 2 cups of the liquid to a pot with the rice. Bring to boil, stir, cover and reduce to simmer. Cook for 15mins and then turn off the heat and let it sit covered for another 5mins. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Enjoy! 

[yumprint-recipe id=’15’]