Good With: Poultry, Salad, Vegetables, Fish, Mexican/Spanish dishes
Time: Under 60 min.
Cost: Less than $0.75/serving
Adapted from a recipe in Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet by Nava Atlas

We’ve been having trouble trying to find ways to make rice something other than a basic side dish. It’s always used as a blank canvas upon which a variety of Ethnic flavors are placed. It never really gets to show off, or anything more than “the stuff under the real flavor”. This recipe definitely fixed that.

Ingredients

Makes: 4 servings

4 c. water
1.5 c. brown rice
1-2 boullion cubes (pref. vegetable flavored)
4 oz. can of green chiles
1 c. ricotta
Salt & Pepper to taste
Cilantro (optional)

Preparation Instructions

1. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil along with the boullion cube(s). Don’t worry too much about everything dissolving, there may be some larger pieces floating about.

2. Mix the rice into the boiling water and stir. When it comes to a second boil, cover the pot and turn to Medium/Low heat (not the lowest setting). Let cook for 35 minutes, or until there’s no water at the bottom of the pot (just take a fork and scoop some rice from the bottom to check).

3. Once the rice is fully cooked, add the ricotta and chiles. Mix until everything is evenly distributed, and continue to leave on the heat until warmed through.

4. Serve immediately with cilantro leaves, if desired.

Yaaaaaaargh!: The addition of ricotta cheese definitely caught us off guard, but the results were perfect: creamy, not too rich, and definitely substantial. The green chiles (which we could probably eat by themselves) added some good flavor, but feel free to spice up the mix, if you like your food on the hotter side. We used the leftovers by heating them up in a pan with the addition of some delicious Tapatio, which was equally delicious.

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