Rice - Mexican Rice & Rice Pudding


I love Mexican rice as a side with refried beans. I could eat them each by themselves and be happy, but I wanted to work them directly into a dish. With refried beans, tostadas came to mind first, so I started there and built onto it with what I had on hand. All homemade - fried flour tostadas topped with refried beans, Mexican rice, brussels sprouts slaw, avocado, pickled vegetables, and chipotle chili sauce.




Toast some long grain rice in oil. Short grain would work fine too, but this is what I like. Toasting the rice to a nice deep brown develops lots of flavor. Be careful & stir lots. I almost burned this one, but was able to save it by pulling it off the heat & stirring constantly. This was the last of my long grain rice. If I were less attentive I would have been starting over with short grain instead.



A bit of minced garlic for the Mexican rice and some sliced carrot, radish and garlic for a quick pickled vegetable garnish to go on top of the tostadas.



I pulsed half of a large can of whole peeled tomatoes & some water in the blender to make a puree and preheated it. The simmering tomato/water puree is dumped into the pot with the rice after it is toasted.



Chopped dried chipotle peppers dry toasted on the stove. Toasting help builds flavor. Then water is added to cover them and they are left to steep.



The pepper and water are pureed with an immersion blender.



Spicy smoky chipotle chili sauce



Bean juice. It is strained from the cooked beans & then slowly blended back in to reach the desired thickness & consistency. Once again, the immersion blender goes to work.



Robert Rodriguez Flour Tortilla dough balls. Flour, water, butter, baking powder, salt. Mixed in a stand mixer, divided into something vaguely resembling ball shapes and proofed.



Dried pinto beans and a dried jalapeno are cooked with water, oil, garlic, and spices in the pressure cooker for 35 minutes. No presoaking required. The liquid is then drained off.



Cooked mexican rice



For dessert, Arroz con Leche with a bit of an Indian twist - seasoned with cinnamon and fresh ground green cardamom. A scoopful of chilled rice pudding topped with a sprinkling of rum soaked dried berries and pistachio pieces.



Dessert starts with Arborio rice, fresh ground green cardamom, and a cinnamon stick.



Add coconut milk, heavy cream, sugar, and butter. Apply heat. Enter scene, rice pudding.



For a mix in, a dried fruit blend. Release the Kraken on some golden raisins and cranberries.