“Mexican” rice

One of the local Mexican restaurants has the BEST rice.

I just love it –

and Little Bit eats it every time we go there and has loved it ever since she was a wee thing. Sometimes she will even ask for the rice as a side when we eat there. Which is amazing because the rice has… wait for it… VEGETABLES in it.

Shocking, I know.

It has the best flavor and we all gobble it up in spite of the vegetables.

So, one day when we were in there eating, I commented on how good the rice was and asked how they made it. I figured it was some super-secret recipe that they cooked slowly all day or some secret grandma’s recipe.

Nope.

The waitress sort of chuckled when I asked her for the recipe. She said, “rice, onions and peas.”

Wait, what?

That’s it?

I couldn’t believe it, so I came home and tried it out.

And guess what?

That’s it.

This is seriously good, seriously simple rice. It has become a standby in our house when we’re eating Latin-inspired foods. And best of all, it’s got VEGETABLES. And the KIDS WILL EAT IT!

*choirs of angels sing*

So, give it a try and let me know if your family loves it as much as ours does.

“Mexican” Rice

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups rice (I use basmati)
3 cups water (or whatever rice/water ratio your rice cooker calls for)
1/4 onion diced finely
1 cup peas (I’ve used frozen and canned (drained) successfully)

(optional: 1/3 cup finely diced carrots – I use my chopper to make them really finely diced)