Jalisco Red Rice (Arroz Rojo Tapatío)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 3-quart saucepan or Jalisco barro canelo cazuela
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Blender
• •Clean kitchen towel for drying the rice

Instructions

1. 1

   Rinse the rice

   Put the rice in a bowl and cover it with cool water. Swish with your hand until the water turns cloudy, drain, and repeat two or three times until the water runs mostly clear. Spread the rice on a clean towel for 10 minutes so the surface dries. Wet rice jumps in hot lard and steams before it fries. That is how you lose the dry, separate grain.

2. 2

   Blend the caldillo

   Blend the Roma tomatoes, white onion, garlic, and 1/2 cup of the warm broth until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve if the tomato skins are thick. The sauce should be loose and bright red. If your tomatoes are pale and hard, wait for better tomatoes or use good canned whole tomatoes. Cook what the mercado gives you, not what a calendar promises.

3. 3

   Fry the rice

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a heavy saucepan or clay cazuela over medium heat. Add the dried rice and stir steadily for 6 to 8 minutes, until the grains turn opaque, sound sandy against the pot, and show a few pale gold edges. Do not brown it hard. You are sealing the grain so it cooks fluffy instead of sticky. La manteca es el sabor.

   Use lard. Vegetable oil will cook the rice, yes, but it will not give the round, savory flavor Jalisco home cooks expect from this dish.
4. 4

   Cook the tomato

   Pour the tomato caldillo into the fried rice. It will sputter because the fat is hot. Stir once, then cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the tomato darkens slightly and the raw smell disappears. This is the same principle as frying a salsa. Raw tomato poured over rice tastes thin. Tomato fried in fat tastes like food.

5. 5

   Add broth and vegetables

   Add the remaining 1 3/4 cups warm broth, salt, diced carrot, peas, slit chile serrano, and cilantro sprigs. Stir once from the bottom to distribute everything. Taste the liquid. It should be a little saltier than you want the finished rice because the grain will absorb it.

6. 6

   Steam it dry

   Bring the pot to a steady simmer, then reduce the heat to low, cover tightly, and cook for 15 minutes. Do not lift the lid. Do not stir. My mother wrote it plainly: no lo muevas. When the liquid is absorbed, turn off the heat and let the covered pot rest for 10 minutes. The resting time finishes the grain without breaking it.

7. 7

   Fluff and serve

   Remove the chile serrano and cilantro sprigs. Fluff the rice gently with a fork, lifting from the edges toward the center. The grains should be red-orange, separate, and dry enough to mound on a spoon. Serve from the cazuela with fried plantain slices or a fried egg on top if this is the main plate. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Use ripe Roma tomatoes, called jitomate guaje in many Mexican markets. They have more flesh and less water than round slicing tomatoes, which keeps the rice from turning soupy.
• •The chile serrano is there for aroma, not to make the rice hot. Leave it whole and slit so it perfumes the pot without taking over. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
• •If you use water instead of chicken broth, add a little more salt and do not pretend it is the same. It is a budget choice, and a respectable one, but broth gives the rice body.
• •Do not skip drying the rinsed rice. The women in Jalisco kitchens who make this every week know that wet rice fries poorly. The texture starts before the pot.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomato caldillo can be blended and refrigerated up to one day ahead. Bring it close to room temperature before adding it to the hot rice so it fries properly.
• •Cooked arroz rojo keeps refrigerated for three days. Reheat it covered in a skillet with a tablespoon of water, then fluff gently.
• •Do not freeze this rice. The grain turns brittle and the texture suffers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 215g)