Vegan Mexican Rice

To go along with the post on my take of (Non) Refried Beans, the pairing of my take on Mexican Rice is a perfect compliment to a serving of beans to make a complete meal.

I have made this recipe originally with plain white rice, but I feel long grain brown rice adds more substance and requires less to feel satiated - although it requires longer cooking time to get it to a similar consistency to its overly refined white rice counterpart. It has been my experience that brown rice requires a little more liquid and time to cook, but it's worth it from a nutritional standpoint.

The use of canned Organic Chopped Tomato's is the base for this dish. You can even try using fire roasted chopped canned tomato's to add an interesting twist. The addition of Onion, lots of garlic, cumin and either regular or smoked red chili powder and finishing it off with lots of fresh cilantro makes for a dish you'll find very satisfying in flavor and density. The use of brown rice adds fiber and a slight nuttiness that I find doesn't detract from the roots of this simple Mexican inspired dish.

Vegan Mexican Rice

1 Cup Organic Long Grain Brown Rice
1 Can Organic Chopped Tomato's
2-3 cups of filtered water
1 Medium to large Organic Yellow Onion - Chopped
1 tblsp Organic Ground Cumin (I prefer more)
1 tblsp Red Chili Powder (The non-heat version - either regular or smoked)
2-3 cloves finely chopped Garlic
2 tblsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 cup roughly chopped Organic Fresh Cilantro

Directions:

Heat a large semi deep skillet on medium high - add Olive Oil, chopped onion and garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Add rice, cround cumin and red chili powder, continue to saute for 2 more minutes. Add canned chopped tomato's and2 cups of water - reserving the other cup as needed if rice doesn't fully cook. Reduce heat to medium low - cook covered for 60 minutes. Check periodically to make sure rice doen't dry out - add additional water as needed til rice is no longer crunchy in the center. Once rice is done, at the last minute, stir in the fresh cilantro and let flavors meld for a minute or so.

Serve with my Vegan Non-Refried Beans.

Bon Appetito