Today I am sharing my Cilantro Lime Rice recipe. The recipe dresses up any dinner or recipe that calls for cooked white rice. Put it on tacos or in burritos or use it as a side dish with pork, chicken or beef. It adds just another layer of flavor instead of plain white rice, which by the way, is my favorite in so many dishes!
Have you noticed the huge variety of rice lately? I am amazed how many 25 pound bags of different kinds of rice there are in Costco. And yet, sometimes, I struggle to find what I am looking for, like wild rice for my Chicken Wild Rice Soup. Does it make your head spin, like me?
So many people have moved to a rice cooker, but I am an old fashioned girl. Give me a saucepan, a lid and 20 minutes, and I will give you perfect rice! After reading the instructions on my rice cooker, it surprised me I had to wait an hour before my rice was ready. In my head, I thought, “Why would I use this appliance when a saucepan will give me perfect rice in 20 minutes?”
How to make Cilantro Lime Rice
1. Fill a saucepan with the water and cubes of chicken bouillon. Using chicken bouillon and water instead of buying bulky boxes of chicken broth is a passion of mine. Bouillon takes up so little space in my pantry and I just do not think packaged chicken broth renders enough added flavor for me to stock it. (Did you see what I did there?)
2. Add the rice with the garlic powder and dried onion flakes. This recipe calls for a tablespoon of each. It adds a delicious pop and you really need this amount. I promise it will not overpower the rice.
3. Stir everything together and put the lid on the saucepan.
4. Set the heat at high and watch for steam to come out from under the lid. Once you see the steam, turn the heat to low. I mean all the way to the bottom of your stove burner dial. You do not need much heat for your rice to cook.
5. Set the timer for 20 minutes at this point. Do not take the lid off! You have to trust the pan and the timer. With the lid on you have created a micro pressure cooker. The minute you take the lid off to peek, you have eliminated the seal you were creating by leaving it on.
6. One of the tricks of perfect rice is turning the heat off and leaving the lid on for a a few minutes to let the pan do its work. The rice will continue to cook, perfectly!
Turning off the heat on your rice and letting it sit on the stove is a great kitchen hack. If you have a lot of things going on in your kitchen, it is nice to know you can let the rice sit on the stove for a minute or two, if you cannot get to it when the timer goes off. Make sure you turn the heat off! You can let it sit, in the pan, with no heat, for 20 -30 minutes.
7. After letting the rice rest a few minutes, you can finally peek. You are looking for holes in the top of your rice where the steam has made an amazing geometric pattern. Take a minute to exam the simplicity and exactness of nature at work.
8. Scoop out all the rice and drop it into a bowl that has the chopped cilantro, lime juice and green enchilada sauce already in it. Mix well and serve.
9. Use some of the left over cilantro to dress up the rice once you have placed it in the serving bowl.
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Cilantro Lime Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Long grain white rice
- 2 Cup Water
- 2 Cubes Chicken Bouillon
- 1 Tbsp. Minced Dry Onions
- 1 Tbsp. Garlic Powder
- 1 Cup Mild Green Enchilada Sauce
- 1 Lime, juiced
- 1/2 Bunch Cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- Fill a saucepan with the water and cubes of chicken bouillon.
- Add the rice with the garlic powder and dried onion flakes.
- Stir everything together and put the lid on the saucepan.
- Set the heat at high and watch for steam to come out from under the lid. Turn the heat down to simmer.
- Set the timer for 20 minutes at this point. Do not peek!
- When the timer goes off, turn off the heat.
- After letting the rice rest a few minutes, you can finally peek.
- Scoop out all the rice and drop it into a bowl that has the chopped cilantro, lime juice and green enchilada sauce already in it. Mix well!
- Use some of the left over cilantro to dress up the rice once you have placed it in the serving bowl.
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