Peas are pretty easy to grow in the garden. As long as you have direct sunlight and a barrier to keep the bunnies away, you’ll soon have a trellis filled with hanging ornaments of nourishing food.
I couldn’t help but capture those sweet little hands helping mami with the peas.
So back to the Mexican rice! The trick to mastering a great Mexican rice is to start with fresh, homemade ingredients. All Mexican rice is reddish in color as it has a tomato base. Most people will use tomato sauce which works fine, however, I’ve found that the best Mexican rice is made by using homemade salsa. Homemade salsa that is cooked through with added ingredients including cilantro. As soon as my tomatoes ripen on my vines, I plan on sharing my homemade salsa recipe as I used it all winter long for my rice! Another staple ingredient to excellent Mexi rice is using homemade chicken stock. Water can be substituted but again, flavor and depth will be sacrificed. Once you start making your own condiments and broths to preserve, whether frozen or canned, you’ll have them on hand for making simple recipes taste AMAZING! A little bit of effort goes a long way!
Mexican Rice with Fresh from the Garden Peas
Ingredients:
- 1 cup white Jasmine rice (Brown rice works just as well, however, you will need to add an additional cup of chicken stock or water and increase the cooking time by 20 minutes)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups homemade chicken broth or water
- 3/4 cup homemade salsa or 1/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp celtic sea salt
- 3/4 cup fresh or frozen peas (or a combination of mixed vegetables)
Method:
- In a stainless steel pan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat.
- Add the rice and incorporate into the oil. This is where you will fry the rice. Keep stirring and moving it around until it browns on all sides. You will start to smell it toasting. Do not let it burn.
- Once the rice is browned on all sides, add the chicken stock or water, carefully. It will simmer and evaporate as you pour it in.
- Add the salsa or tomato sauce and mix in. (Always add the chicken stock before the tomato base as adding the tomato base first will splatter and can burn you.)
- Add the cumin, salt and peas.
- Bring the mixture to a boil. Once it starts boiling, cover and lower your heat to it’s lowest setting.
- Simmer on low for 20 minutes.
That’s it! Buen Provecho!!!
I can almost taste how wonderful those fresh peas must be! Love the combo of flavors here. Satisfying without being heavy on the tummy! 🙂
ahhh..it must hv tasted heavenly with fresh peas….awesome..looks yum
hi! nice to meet you and your blog! i ' m an italian wife, and i've a blog sweetmaremma blogspot. we use oil,vegetables,chicken home products
Que buen arroz y encima con guisantes naturales, estupenda receta. Saludos
wow this must have been amazing with those peas
Yum, the rice looks full of delicious flavours… and these peas must be so tender!! A mouthwatering healthy dish 🙂
Diana, I am drooling over those peas, they look so fresh and tender. I just planted some peas, so may be a month or so, I should get to use some. Please do check my site for "A.W.E.D. – Spain" event and would love to have your entries as your whole blog is about spanish cuisine :). But, remember, my event will only take vegetarian entries 🙂
I LOVE Mexican rice -this looks great!
Mexican rice is a staple around here…and peas are my finishing touch! I love this time of year when we can use fresh ones. Your rice sounds sooo tasty…and the boys are so darn sweet! Lovin' those kids in the kitchen =)
I love these peas! So colorful – they look so happy!
I love Mexican Rice, I like the addition of fresh peas. Lovely photos and cute kids.
I love that you've got the boys shucking peas and helping out.
What a fresh rice dish! Your boys are absolutely adorable and I love the picture of the little hands holding the pea pod.
It looks great. I love fresh peas and I'm glad you suggested using brown rice, which I think works pretty well for Mexican rice. One technique I learned from my abuelita was to add the tomatoes to the browning rice. I think you can minimize the spatter if you pour it over the rice and not directly onto the pan. When I add it after the broth, I find that it doesn't combine quite as well. And wow, you go all out with the chicken broth. Very nice.
Me encanta el blog :-).
Your boys are so cute! Yes, I agree fresh peas are the best. Their sugars turn into starch as soon as you pick them, so the fresher the better.
I make my rice almost the same! I used to chop the onions and garlic and then add tomato sauce. Then I realized I could just use my salsa! It made such a difference in taste and prep time! 🙂
i dont see ur homemade cooked salsa recipe anywhere on the blog 🙁
So easy and delicious. Thank you for sharing the secrets!