Cilantro Lime Brown Rice

Yesterday I had been taking inventory all day in my head of what ingredients I had at home which could be used to offer a tasty and well-balanced meal to my Handsome Husband and Lovely Littles, cooked in the least amount of time, since I arrive home from work between 5 and 6. My husband has a penchant for store-bought, frozen chicken-and-cheese taquitos, so I knew our freezer was stocked with those. I also knew we had some of my homemade salsa leftover from the other day (I don't really have a "recipe" persay, but I'll make it a point to post about this another time), and some store bought tortilla chips. I remembered I had chopped, uncooked remnants of an amazing 3-pound sweet potato I bought at the farmer's market on Saturday - my first purchase at our local market, ever! Finally, I had a bag of "Texas parboiled brown rice" sitting in the cupboard, to round out what would become a Tex-Mex feast.

"What do I do with the rice?" was my first thought. I make a mean Spanish Rice, and a decent Ginger Sage Rice, but we were out of some key ingredients for either dish, and I hate grocery shopping. I would rather change my entire menu to omit the one ingredient I don't have at home than go to the store to buy it. Because of this, I found myself google'ing the interwebs to come across this recipe for Cilantro Lime Brown Rice here.

I adapted the recipe only lightly, and it turned out well. If I had vegetable stock on hand (or chicken stock for you omnivores), I would have used that in place of the water with salt and cumin, and the rice would've come out a bit heartier and more satisfying; but, as previously mentioned, I wasn't going to the store to buy what I didn't have. I would just make do. It was still a wonderful addition to our Tex-Mex'ian meal.

Here is is some of that yummy rice!

Cilantro Lime Texas Parboiled Brown Rice

Ingredients

• 2-4 Tbsp Vegetable Oil (or whatever you have on hand)
• 1 small to medium Onion, diced
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 2-3 dashes Salt*
• 1 cup Texas Parboiled Brown rice
• 2 cups Water, with 1 tsp Salt and 1/2 tsp Cumin
• 1 Lime
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup loosely packed Cilantro, chopped

Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, season with salt (about 2-3 dashes) and cook, stirring occasionally for 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring to avoid burning.

2. Reduce the heat to low and add rice. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add water with spices and the lime juice. Raise heat to medium-high and bring mixture to a boil. 

3. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer, cover, and cook until the rice is done as per the directions on your bag of rice.

4. Once liquid is completely evaporated and rice is cooked, fluff rice with a fork and stir in cilantro. 

*If you choose to use chicken stock in place of water/salt/cumin, increase the salt from 2-3 dashes to not more than 1 tsp of salt. Of course, dont add any salt to the chicken stock.

Now, if you're wondering about those sweet potatoes, stay tuned for new posts!

Enjoy!