My mexican fiesta!

So I'm pretty obsessed with Tomato rice.This place I love named "La Palapa" has the best red rice I've ever had and I never stop trying to find that recipe somewhere. Here's another attempt.

How Mine looks:

Tomato Rice:

INGREDIENTS – Serves 2
• 1 cup long grain rice, soaked in water for 10 minutes (I use Basmati Rice)
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 Jalapeno chile (remove ribs and seeds if you can’t handle the heat)
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced (or as per taste)
• 1 tbsp Tomato paste
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups vegetable stock (or water)
• salt to taste
• few sprigs of cilantro to serve
• juice of 1 small lime (optional)

Method

• Process the tomatoes and onion in a processor until pureed.
• It should give you about 1 cup worth of puree. Set aside.
• Meanwhile in a skillet, heat 1 tsp oil (you can use upto 1 tbsp). Add the drained rice to the oil and saute until rice is golden and translucent.
• Add garlic and jalapeno and cook for another 1 minute.
• Add the pureed tomatoes, 1 cup of vegetable stock along with tomato paste and salt. Depending on the rice quality you might need 1/2 or 1 cup more of water. I use totally 2 cups of 1 cup of Basmati rice to get that perfect cooked yet separate rice texture instead of mushy.
• Close with a tight fitting lid and cook for 10-15 minutes (stirring halfway), or until the rice is tender and cooked completely.
• Garnish with cilantro and squeeze lime juice (if using) You can otherwise serve lime wedges to be squeezed on individual plates as per taste.

Re-fried Pinto Beans:


Ingredients:

• 2 cups pinto beans
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 bulb of roasted garlic, approximately 6 or 7 cloves
• 2 - 3 tsp seasalt, depending on how much salt you like
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 finely chopped tomato, vine ripened or home grown
• 4 quart pot

Method:

• First pour your beans out on a table or cutting board. Sort through them and discard any rocks or shriveled beans. This shouldn't take but a couple of minutes to do.
• Put the beans in a colander and rinse them under cold water. Pour the beans into a pot.
• Add 8 cups of cold water and the bay leaf.
• Put the stove burner on high and cover partially with a lid. As soon as the beans start to boil, lower the heat a little but still continue to boil.
  
• Cook for 2 hours and keep adding water as it cooks away. Stir occasionally. Keep the water level at 2 inches above the beans.
• After two hours of cooking, the beans should be soft and darker brown in color. If not cook
  them another 20 to 30 minutes. Then add the oil, salt, tomato, and roasted garlic.
• You can slide the roasted garlic out of it's sleeve in the bulb, right into the beans.

• To get the best flavor, simmer your beans 1- 1 1/2 hour or as long as you can with all the spices and oil. The longer these pinto bean recipes simmer, the better they will taste.

• After 1 to 1 1/2 hours, it seems like all the beans want to do is stick to the pot. This is the point where you turn off the heat, remove the bay leaf, and mash them with a potato masher.

Ingredients

• 12 chicken thighs
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place flour in a shallow plate or bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Put the bread crumbs in another shallow plate or bowl and beat the eggs in another bowl.
3. Dredge the chicken piece by piece in the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs, until all pieces are coated. Pour the oil into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Add the chicken to the dish and sprinkle with paprika to taste. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then turn pieces over and bake for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven and drain on paper towels. Enjoy!

Shrimp Quesadillas and Tomato Rice

How it's supposed to Look:




For the last few weeks, my really good friend Oscar and I, have been in nonstop discussion about how we have to cook together. We're always throwing recipes and foods out at each other and saying We should make this!!! Finally we got together, with our friend Jasmine, to cook.

Unfortunately, I am currently unemployed and have limited funds. Which sucks, because I could not cook the fancy meal we had planned. We decided to go mexican. Making everything from quesillas to flan, but that did not happen exactly. We had to economize. So we made Shrimp Quesadillas and a new recipe for my tomato rice.

Shrimp Quesadillas recipe via http://planetgreen.discovery.com/f
(note we exchanged black bean salsa for sour cream and could not find quacamole





How Mine Looks:

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small red or green pepper, sliced
1/2 pound medium shrimp, (26-30 count)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and Pepper
8 (6-inch) flour tortillas
1 cup Fresh Tomato Salsa
1 cup Guacamole
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely grated
Corn and Black Bean Salsa, recipe follows

Method:
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the peppers. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the shrimp, season with cumin, salt and pepper. Cook until golden and just cooked through, about 2 minutes per side.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat and drizzle 1 1/2 teaspoons of the remaining oil in the pan. When hot, add one of the tortillas. Spoon over tortilla, 2 tablespoons fresh tomato salsa, 1 tablespoon guacamole, and 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Divide the shrimp into 4 portions and add one portion on top of the cheese. Top with another tortilla and press down. Cook, undisturbed, until golden brown and crisp on the bottom, about 2 to 3 minutes. Carefully turn to the second side, and continue cooking until golden on the second side, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Transfer to a large plate or cutting board, cut into wedges. Repeat with the remaining quesadillas.

Tomato Rice Recipe 2 via. allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 2 cups chicken broth

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add rice. Cook, stirring constantly, until puffed and golden. While rice is cooking, sprinkle with salt and cumin.
2. Stir in onions and cook until tender. Stir in tomato sauce and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Conclusion:

The food was good. I really enjoyed it. I have never made a quesadillas before, but I had a good time making it. We really filled the quesadillas with peppers and shrimp and so they were kind of a mess, but a good mess. I wish we could have browned and made the tortillas crisper, but it didn't matter in the larger scheme of things.

Jasmine is against vegetables, so I made a tomato rice that has no carrots, tomatoes, etc, just onions. Which meant the rice was less flavorful. I was very disappointed in the rice, the last time i made it, it was soo much tastier. Also, I used to cans of tomatoes so when I poured it into the pot I thought it was too much. So I added another half cup which was a mistake, it sucked up too much juice and left the rice less flavorful then it should have been. That did not stop us from cleaning our plates though!

Also, can I say cooking as a team is so much better then cooking alone. Oscar is AMAZING at cutting up the ingredients. I suck at cutting onions, peppers etc, and he cut it up like a pro. Also, this entry is so much better cuz we have multiple pics, which I couldn't do if we didn't have Jasmine there. Whenever I'm cooking I think, I wish I could get a pick of this, but of course I can't because my hands are dirty, etc.