Arroz Verde

Arroz Verde is the Mexican rice recipe meaning “Green Rice”. I got the recipe idea from here, which I customized to suit our tastes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Long-grain Rice (I used Basmati)
• 1 medium Onion
• 4 stalks of Celery
• 4 small Jalapeno Chilies
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• ½ cup Green Peas, frozen or fresh
• 4 small Carrots
• 2 tbsp Oil
• Salt as required
• 3 cups Water

Preparation:

Cut the celery, onion, chilies and garlic into medium pieces. Peel the skin of carrots and cut them into dice sized pieces.

In a microwave safe bowl, add celery, onion, chilies and garlic with just enough water to soak them, cover with a lid and microwave for 10 minutes or until the vegetables become tender.

Meanwhile, wash the rice well and soak in enough water for 15 minutes.

When the vegetables are cooked, take the bowl from the microwave and remove the cover. Let it stand until the vegetables cool down a little bit. Then puree them in a blender into a smooth paste. Reserve the water used for cooking the vegetables for later use as it has so many nutrients. Keep the puree aside.

In a pressure pan, heat the oil and fry the raw rice gently, so that it cooks evenly without burning. To this, add the chopped carrots and green peas and fry well for some time.

Add the pureed vegetables to the rice and stir well again.

Later add 3 cups of water to the rice (use the reserved healthy water too) and adjust the salt.

Stir well, check the salt and cover the pressure pan. Switch it off after 3 whistles. When all the pressure is gone, open the cover and mix the rice well.

Serve hot with some chips or alone.

This rice item tasted so great and the good point is it has all the healthy ingredients. This Arroz Verde is my contribution to A.W.E.D. event being hosted by DK of Culinary Bazaar.