27 August 2009


I love Mexican food and have several main dish recipes that I make quite often. I always struggle to come up with decent Mexican side dishes. I've made Mexican rice in the past (basically salsa, black beans, and corn stirred into white rice), but we didn't really like it that much. I make a Sweet Corn Tomalito, like they make at Chevy's. I haven't blogged about that yet. It's really good, but quite a pain in the butt to make so I don't make it that often. So, I'm always on the lookout for good Mexican side dish recipes.

The other day I was watching Claire Robinson on 5 Ingredient Fix. She made something she called Green Goddess Rice. It doesn't have anything to do with the dressing; I think she named it that just because it was green. Anyway, it was a combination of avocado, lemon juice, and basil made into a sauce that was then tossed with the hot rice. I was intrigued. While watching the show, I immediately thought that I wanted to try it with different flavors. Instead of avocado, lemon juice, and basil, I wanted to try it with avocado, lime juice, and cilantro. You know, like guacamole. I had planned a Mexican main dish for last night and was going to make guacamole to go with it, but then I thought, why not turn the guacamole from just a condiment into an actual side dish?

And viola! Guacamole Rice was born.

Guacamole Rice

Ingredients:
1½ cups white rice, uncooked
3 cups water
Salt
1 small avocado, peeled, pitted, and coarsely chopped
1 cup packed fresh cilantro
½ lime, juiced
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
¾ to 1 cup water
Salsa (optional)

Directions:
Bring the rice, 3 cups water, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, stir, cover, and cook until water is completely absorbed, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the avocado, cilantro, lime juice, oil, and ¼ cup water in the jar of a blender and puree; season generously with salt and pepper. Add more water and puree until the mixture is the consistency of sour cream. Add salsa to the avocado mixture if you like.

Fluff the rice with a fork and gently fold the green dressing into the warm rice. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if necessary. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.


Basically, it is just rice tossed with guacamole that is runnier than what you would use as a dip. So throw into the blender container anything you would usually put into your guacamole. I know most people put jalepeno in it, but since Jim and I don't really like them, I usually throw a couple of tablespoons of salsa in instead.

It was good. I read the reviews of the original recipe and they weren't exactly glowing. Some people liked it, but there were a lot of people who thought that avocado, lemon juice, and basil didn't go together at all. I'm glad I stuck with the classic combo.

It makes a really nice side dish for Mexican food. Last night I served it with my Baked Chicken Chimichangas. And it would go well with the enchiladas that I make too.

Lena absolutely loved this rice! I wasn't sure if she would like it or not. She eats almost anything you give her, but she had never had avocado before so I wasn't sure. She gobbled it down like nobody's business. I couldn't shove it in fast enough!

So Jim got his plate ready and showed me how pretty it was. He was so proud of himself. I told him to take it to the foodio so I could take a picture of it. He got all excited that something that he arranged was pretty enough for the foodio. :) It's the little things in life, really!


The green sauce on the chimichanga is my Creamy Cilantro Sauce.

Boy, I'm starting to get quite a collection of green rice recipes. This one turned out much better than the Coconut Cilantro Rice.


Special Note: This recipe was the 100th recipe posted on this blog! What an exciting milestone!

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3 comments:

  1. sounds wonderful. I'm not much of a cook But i do belieave this is do able for me. thank you so much. this my first time visiting your site I'll have to come more often.

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  2. I was just admiring the sour cream enchiladas Erin picked from your blog for SRC, and had to check out the avocado rice she mentioned! Wow, I love this idea!! I also struggle with Mexican sides and make a different green rice, but this would be nice for a change.  Since I only cook for two, I was wondering if this stays nice and green after storing b/c I know we'd have leftovers, or if it gets brown like guacamole. 

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  3. Sorry for replying so late, Veronica! I didn't get an email about your comment for some reason and just found it. I don't recall having leftovers when I made this, but I would assume that the green would dull somewhat due to the avocado. But all the cilantro would help keep it somewhat green. Let me know if you tried it and how it turned out for you.

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