Cilantro Lime Rice

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup extra long grain rice or basmati
1/2 lime, squeezed for juice
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cilantro
3 teaspoons vegetable oil

Directions: In a small or medium heavy pot add water, rice, salt and 1 teaspoon of oil.  Boil on high until most of the water evaporates.  When water just skims the top of the rice reduce heat to low and cover for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes turn heat off and leave for 5 minutes, keeping rice covered.  In a medium bowl combine rice, cilantro, lime juice and 2 teaspoons of oil.  Mix together.






I am always looking for sides to put with my meals.  One dish I always have a hard time thinking of different sides for are soft tacos.  Typically I make my homemade Spanish rice, but it is nice to switch it up every now and then.  I stumbled on this recipe and knew I had to test it out the next time we had taco night.

My rice stuck to the bottom of my pan.  I always cook my rice in the same stainless steel pot, but for some reason it stuck.  It didn't burn but I have a feeling the cooking method is what caused this.  It took about 6 minutes for my water to skim the rice.  I also stirred the rice throughout that time.  When the rice was cooking I added my remaining vegetable oil, lime juice and cilantro to the serving bowl and let it sit.  I squeezed my lime in a small bowl first so I could measure it.  I got about 1 rounded tablespoon.  As soon as the rice was done I mixed it all together.

I really enjoyed the rice.  I think it might have been missing something and with further investigation I found some people add 1 teaspoon of sugar.  I will make this again and again, but add a little more cilantro.  It isn't super flavorful like a Spanish rice, but it is simple and light.  They say this is supposed to be like Chipotle's cilantro lime rice.  I might have to go test theirs out and compare.  :)

(Recipe source: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/03/chipotle-cilantro-lime-rice-4-pts.html)