Cilantro Lime Rice.... a different, yet simple side dish... Ok, since I have plenty of cilantro in my garden, I decided to post another dish that uses cilantro. The thing about cilantro is that it goes to seed rather quickly....so you need to use it. This morning, when I went to water my garden, I immediately knew I needed to use some more of the cilantro. So I picked a handful. I was planning on making some grilled fish for lunch and I needed an accompaniment. Why not make some cilantro-lime rice. It would be quick, light, and fresh tasting. The rice wouldn't overpower the flavor of the fish. Sometimes simple is best. I love this side dish.
You can easily serve this alongside many dishes. It pairs very well with any grilled meat, kabobs, and mexican dishes. Actually, I don't mind eating it plain. I could eat a big bowl of this:)... This simple rice dish looks festive and comes together in no time. You really don't need a ton of ingredients to make something flavorful and presentable. I love to add a pad of butter....I guess it's sort of my secret:). It just makes the rice taste incredibly delicious. You can skip it if you like... but just try it once, and see what I mean.
If you are looking for a side dish that you can make without too much fuss, you might want to give this recipe a try. Who knows...you just might like it:). Hope you enjoy....
You will need:
1 cup basmati rice
1 3/4 cups water
salt to taste
fresh cilantro to taste( I used about 1/2 cup loosely packed)
1 pad of butter
2-3 tsps olive oil
1 small clove of garlic, finely grated( I used my microplane)
1 lime, juiced ~or to taste
Directions:
Add rice, salt and water to a rice cooker and cook. You can likewise do this in a pot. Add the pad of butter to the hot rice...mixing and fluffing with a fork. In a blender, food processor, or by hand blend/chop cilantro with the grated garlic and oil until finely minced. If doing this in a food processor , you might need to stop and clean the sides a few times. Add to fluffed up rice. Mix to evenly incorporate. Add lime juice and mix to combine.
Do not add the lime juice to the cilantro mixture beforehand...this will oxidize the cilantro and turn it into an army green color.
12 comments:
What an absolutely pretty dish
Interesting & very colourful.......
Ce reteta interesanta ...foarte bine arata...Sa ai o zi frumoasa
WOW, that looks so so so so good!
Hello Ellie!
I did recently Cilantro Rice (adapted from Martha's) and loved the taste but the color was oxidized with an ugly green. In the recipe I used did not say anything about that detail just add the lemon at the end. Too bad I did not discover this "secret" before. Thank you for sharing! I love your blog, loved being here! (Sorry the bad english I used a translator!)
Cheers!
Jennifer, Sailaja, Speranta, Elizabeth...Thank You for your sweet comments!
Cherry Blossom, Welcome!
Yes, I found that adding lime/lemon juice to any herb will oxidize it and turn it a darker green. It doesn't taste bad, just looks unappealing. You might want to add the lime right at the end before serving. Glad I could help:)~Ellie
Tried this rice totally loved it.
Sailaja. So glad you enjoyed it!...and thanks for stopping by and sharing your feedback. Appreciate it!
Hi Ellie,
Happy New Year! I love your blog and also the fact that you like to bake from the scratch.You make everything seem sooo easy especially for a relatively new baker like me.Will try out this dish...
Oh, Marie... thank you so much for your sweet comment!
I, too, was a beginner once...had my share of failed recipes( and I still do:). But, practicing and trying to cook and bake from scratch has been of tremendous help... I've learned to see what works or doesn't work. I try to keep that in mind for next recipe I try. It takes time, but you'll notice improvement sooner than later:).
I'm really hoping the blog will help you... I've tried to make it easier to duplicate a recipe through the step-by-step photos.
Hope you enjoy this recipe... and the pad of butter really makes this dish:).
Thank you for stopping by.... I really appreciate it.
This is a good base, but I made some changes which I felt was an improvement to a good recipe. I made this recipe first and felt it needed a bit more flavor and no butter. Here is what I did.
1 cup rice
2 cups water
1 tsp salt
a half bunch of cilantro leaves
1 tbsp garlic chopped
2 tbsp onion chopped
1 cup chopped romaine
1 juiced lime
In a blender or deep food processor, add water and all ingredients except lime juice. Liquify leaving only small bits of the green stuff.
Brown rice in the pan like you would making mexican rice. When browned, add the liquid mixure and cook it down. Add lime juice in at the end. This was perfect and very similar to Mi Cocina's recipe.
Anon, Thanks for stopping by... I'm so glad you tried the recipe. And thank you also for sharing your feedback and the recipe. It sounds delicious!
This recipe I posted is really a basic, basic recipe for cilantro lime rice. There are lots of additions you can add to it to bring in more flavor( just as you mentioned in your recipe)... and the addition of butter really is a matter of personal taste. Personally, I love it. Sure it might mellow down the taste of cilantro, but it adds a nice buttery taste and balances out the acidity from the lime. And in reality, since I used a rice cooker and didn't saute the rice in butter( or oil for that matter) as you would with Spanish rice... I felt the need to add it at the end.
I'm well aware that my version might not be authentic:), but we like it. In any case, I can easily see how others might skip the butter to get a stronger and more pronounced cilantro flavor in the rice... and I'm not against flavor. At the same time this recipe was supposed to be a simple version... something you could whip up rather quickly with minimal ingredients and utensils:). However, I do like the sound of your version and would love to try it one day. So, thank you for sharing! I really appreciate it.
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