After a long and lazy week spent at my friends’ house in Dayton I am back with more Mexican inspired recipes. All this month I am posting this kind of recipes to celebrate the 199th anniversary of Mexico’s Independence. Mexican rice is my favorite way to eat this grain, but I wanted to give it a twist by using tomatillos instead of tomatoes and I spiced it up a little by adding some pepper and basil.
Mexican tomatillo rice
The ingredients:
- 2 cups long grain rice
- 2 TBSP canola oil
- 1/2 pound tomatillos
- 1/2 medium onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded
- 1 tsp chopped fresh basil
- 2-3 cups chicken broth
The how-to:
- In a medium sauce pan fry rice in canola oil until it starts to turn golden brown and has a nutty smell. Make sure to stir constantly to fry evenly.
- In a blender mix together tomatillos, onion, garlic, jalapeno and basil with 1 cup of chicken broth. Once it’s blended and smooth, add more broth until you get 4 cups of tomatillo sauce (double the amount of rice in cups)
- Pour sauce over rice, mix well and bring to a boil.
- Mix again and reduce heat to low. Cover and let simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring lightly every 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning.
- The liquid should be absorbed in that period of time and the rice should be tender. Serve with your favorite Mexican dinner and enjoy!
The afterthoughts:
- I enjoyed this rice a lot. It is a good alternative for the popular red Mexican rice. Unlike tomatoes, tomatillos flavor is more sour hence giving this dish a very different and distinctive flavor. The jalapeno gave it a nice kick and even though I like how it mixed with the basil flavor I will keep it out next time. I’ll also add some peas or other kind of veggie next time.
¡Buen provecho!
This post also goes to Heidileon’s event Mexican Fiesta 09 that is also celebrating Mexico through its cuisine this month.
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23 Replies
The tomatillos and jalapeno sound delicious in this! I'd love some of this rice with a grilled fish.
Posted on September 15th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Tomatillos sauce instead of tomatoes, I need to try this out. I think I'll use cilantro instead of basil.
Thank you for the inspiration Ben!
Stumbled!
Posted on September 15th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Sounds so good!! This is really strange.. i went & got raw green tomatoes, chili peppers & some cilantro from my yard to make a rice today:-) didn't think of posting it….
Posted on September 15th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
That looks delicious Ben, athough I have to confess that after three weeks of eating rice I really want to wait a while for trying this!
Posted on September 15th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Looks good to me! I agree with Jill. I think cilantro is a kissing cousin to tomatillo.
Posted on September 15th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
I loooove flavored rice. This is right up my alley. Bet it''s great with grilled chicken or fish. Hey, are you going to foodbuzz's blogger festival?
Posted on September 15th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
MMMHHHH that really looks good
Posted on September 15th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
I love rice….this one sounds wonderful. I really like all the flavors in that rice. Great recipe as usual
Posted on September 15th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Tomatillos in rice — I've never tried it, but I'm putting this recipe on my to-do list. I agree about cilantro — a natural partner to the tomatillos — but as I'm not a cilantro lover, I might try some parsley from my garden.
Posted on September 16th, 2009 at 12:07 am
I love rice in all forms, shapes and origins, but when it is flavored I jump with joy!!!! Now, where shall I find tomatillos????
Posted on September 16th, 2009 at 3:53 am
Looks lovely..simple ingredients and delicious flavors
Posted on September 16th, 2009 at 9:56 am
That looks so delicious and easy to make. I really loved the recipe. And your pics are just awesome. Great work.
Posted on September 16th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Stumbled it too
Posted on September 16th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Delicious, I'll try both options cilantro or basil. The Basil option I would serve with fish (perhaps "a la talla" or grilled) served with fresh ripe tomatoes.
Posted on September 16th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Love flavoured rice, this sounds really good with the tomatillos, jalapeno and basil.
Posted on September 16th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Oh Ben, this recipe is amazing – I love the fact that there's no hint in the look of the rice of all the goodies packed inside. YUM. I would never have thought of this.
Posted on September 17th, 2009 at 12:51 am
I like that you add tomatillos to your rice. Must be so good. Nice plating and beautiful pics Ben.
Posted on September 17th, 2009 at 2:20 am
What a clever twist. I love tomatillos, and the addition of basil sounds delicious, too. Great photograph! Love it.
Posted on September 17th, 2009 at 5:36 am
Wow, this looks beautiful! What an art!
Posted on September 17th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Sounds delicious! I love all the flavours in this
Posted on September 17th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
You'll always get my attention with rice — especially green rice! We've tried several versions and have used Anaheim chilis and lots of cilantro. Can't wait to try your version. Great photo ; )
Posted on September 19th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
This looks like a great twist on the classic version. I really love tomatillos and the jalapeno and basil addition sound delicious.
Posted on September 21st, 2009 at 12:16 pm
[...] What’s Cooking? – Mexican Tomatillo Rice [...]
Posted on October 28th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
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