Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Rice In Mexican Cooking

One of the most widely grown crops in the world, rice is the most important dietary staple in much of the world. It is actually the most commonly eaten grain on earth and is the basis of the traditional diet in eastern and southeastern Asia, much of Africa, the Caribbean and the region known as Latin America, spanning South, Central, and parts of North America. While rice is grown in the US and is indeed a common food here, it is in Mexico that North America can be said to truly have a culinary tradition including rice in an important role. It is second only to corn in its importance to Mexican cooking and there are far too many Mexican rice recipes to list here.

As central as rice is to Mexican cooking, it is a relatively recent arrival in the grand scheme of things, having arrived in what is now Mexico with colonists and explorers from Spain and Portugal. The peoples of the new world took to the new grain with enthusiasm and rice was soon one of the most important staples in the Mexican kitchen. Some of the dishes, which are now considered to be traditional Mexican rice recipes date from the early days after rice, began to be cultivated in the Americas.

Authentic Mexican Rice Recipes

One of the best known of all Mexican rice recipes also happens to be a classic Mexican chicken recipe. Arroz con pollo or rice with chicken is Mexico’s own unique version of this popular combination of ingredients. If you have gotten tired of the American version using cream of mushroom soup, give this traditional Mexican rice recipe a try next time.

This dish is a Mexican adaptation of a Spanish recipe, with some ingredients, which are native to the Americas. Tomatoes are a common ingredient in arroz con pollo, as is oregano – and in Mexico, cooks prefer to use the stronger-flavored Mexican oregano instead of Greek oregano as cooks would use in Europe. While the Spanish influence is undeniable, these small changes have made this very much a Mexican rice recipe.

Spanish Cuisine Becomes Mexican In The New World

After the Spanish began to grow rice in Mexico, it quickly became a hit, working its way into dishes, which combined old and new ingredients, with some of the results now known as authentic Mexican rice recipes. One dish, which we think of as Spanish as can be is paella, but a look at the ingredients commonly, used in this dish reveal something very interesting. For example, tomato is a common ingredient; a new world ingredient, which must inevitably have found its way into a pot of rice and seafood long before a cook in Valencia, thought to do the same.

Of course, even Spanish paella happens to have a slight Mexican accent due to the inclusion of tomatoes and quite often, bell peppers – both of which are native to the Americas and were brought back to Europe from the new world! Needless to say, this is also a very popular Mexican rice dish with many regional variations being found throughout Mexico, especially in coastal regions of the country.

Another popular Mexican rice recipe is the lightly seasoned rice served as a side dish with many meals, especially bean dishes. You may have noticed the similarity between this dish and Spanish rice – and the two do share some ingredients other than rice; again, tomatoes and bell peppers are part of the equation.

Rice has become almost as important of a dietary staple in Mexico as it is in much of the world. It may not have been in the Mexican culinary repertoire as long as corn or chilies, but it has found a happy place in this one of a kind cuisine and if you enjoy any of these wonderful Mexican rice recipes, you are certainly glad that it made its way over to the Americas.

Mexican cuisine is vast and varied and if you want to know more, you can visit MexicanFoodRecipes.org where you can see just how many wonderful traditional mexican food recipes you can make at home. You will also find plenty of interesting information on Mexican cuisine, which is known for being nutritious as well as very tasty.