mexican rice

I always have a hard time figuring out what to serve with burritos or tacos.  I look for side dishes that will go with mexican main dishes without using the same ingredients over and over.

This mexican rice seems to go well with burritos. It has a lighter, fresher taste and doesn't call for beans or cheese.

Mexican Rice
2 cups basmati rice
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 1/2 cups water
2 Tbsp. chicken base
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 tsp. ground cumin
cilantro (optional)
salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add dry rice and cook and stir about 3 minutes until rice begins to brown a bit.

Add water and chicken base and bring mixture to a boil.

Add diced onion, green pepper and garlic.

Add Rotel tomatoes - liquid too.

Add cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper.    I have family members that do not like the taste of cilantro so I add just a bit.  

Cover pan and cook on low until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed...about 15-20 minutes.

We had this for Sunday dinner, along with enchilada style beef burritos, refried beans with cheese, baked buttered sweet potato halves, fried polenta slices, and a mandarin orange, craisins and romaine salad with walnuts.

Later, for dessert, we had Texas Sheet cake.  Everyone was wishing for some vanilla ice cream to go along with the cake...poor things! So mistreated!

Ice cream really would have been good with it. The cake is pretty chocolatey!  There was a short discussion about someone running down to the store to get ice cream, but we decided to rough it and eat cake on it's own.