Spanish Rice

A while back, for a few years in a row around Christmas, my family cooked a Tex-Mex/Mexican style dinner. Most everything was made from scratch and tasted great, but for some reason that did not extend to the rice. I never really liked Spanish rice but decided to try the boxed mix version at our dinner anyway and was disappointed. It tasted too much like canned tomato and lacked general flavor and was mushy. I do like the rice in burritos, so I knew it could be good if we just gave it some thought.

Fast forward to a few months later where I somehow really wanted to have some good rice with a Mexican style meal, and chose this. It was easy AND really good. It is no harder than preparing it from a package, and has LOTS more flavor than the boxed mix. I now make it regularly with Tex-Mex/Mexican food. I like to serve it with refried beans and spicy chicken tacos.

Notes:

• My favorite kind of rice to use here is jasmine rice, though you can use any long grain rice you wish.
• I have not tried it with brown rice but I imagine if you did it might just take a little longer to cook.
• It will end up highlighting the flavors of whatever salsa you use, so make sure you like the taste of the salsa you plan to make this with. My favorite is a tomato based salsa with peach and mango, which makes it slightly sweet.
• To make it vegetarian, use a vegetarian broth of your choice instead of chicken broth. 

RECIPE: Spanish Rice