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What’s cooking? just got bigger. I am proud to introduce a new section where guest bloggers from all over the world will delight us with great food, pictures, stories and other great topics. This new section is called What’s cooking, world? I am proud to present our first guest post written by a great blogger and a very good friend Jerry (The Cooking by the Seat of my Pants Guy) What!? If you haven’t visited his blog before, prepare yourself to be amazed.

When I first thought about what I was going to put together for this guest post I figured I’d go with some nice traditional Mexican dish, or at least something traditionally Latin. Something that would do Ben and his readers proud, perhaps a simple arroz con pollo or even an empanada of some variety would work. Everyone would be happy, we’d laugh, we’d smile and we’d go on our merry way with warm fuzzy feelings and a full stomach. Simple, right?

Wrong.

One has to face facts, and the simple fact is that even though I’m no Gringo, I’m also no Mexican. My family recipes include bits from our Cherokee and Irish ancestors as well as a good chunk of good ol’ southern down-home comfort cooking, not Mexican cuisine. I didn’t even know that there were peppers other than jalapeno and cayenne until I was in my teens, but by then I could already make biscuits and gravy from scratch. To attempt to make a traditional Mexican dish for an audience that knows its Mexican would be a complete folly. At best I would come across looking like I copied the recipe and methods from a cookbook. At worst I would destroy something that any self-respecting Mexican cook could make from memory by the age of twelve.

I had to come up with something else…

The answer came to me one afternoon while searching for Mexican rice recipes. I don’t even remember what it was I was looking at now, but the recipe was described as a “…classic Mexican fried rice dish.” This got me thinking. Having grown up near a fairly large Chinese community, I know fried rice as an Eastern dish. Now that I live in Texas, the flavors of Tex-Mex are something it’s hard to escape. I wondered just what would happen if I merged the two concepts.

I’m glad I did!

This dish is fusion cuisine at its best. It combines the methods of a Chinese fried rice with a lot of the flavors I’ve come to love in Tex-Mex, with a bit of inspiration from Ben’s Creamy Poblano Rice recipe, which he shared with my readers a few weeks ago. The presentation is as Chinese as I could make it, but the flavors are anything but what you would expect from an Asian dish, rather focusing on cilantro, poblano, jalapeno and a touch of tomato. The cooking method is strictly Asian. Everything was prepared in a stir fry pan with the least amount of oil necessary to finish and the complete cooking time (not including the rice) was less than 6 minutes.

I hope you enjoy!

Jerry’s Tex-Mex Fried Yellow Rice (amarillo arroz frito)

Ingredients:

For the rice:

• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 2 1/8 cup chicken stock
• 1 tsp. turmeric

For the Stir Fry:

• 3 eggs
  
• 2 poblano peppers, roasted, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium-small onion, chopped
• 1 10 oz. can Ro-Tel® Mild (This is a mix of tomatoes, onions and jalapenos), drained well
• 1 bunch cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp Mexican oregano
• 5 tbsp. vegetable oil (sounds like a lot, but really, it isn’t. Most of the oil will evaporate in the process.)
  
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

NOTE: this is a stir fry in the traditional Asian Style. Have absolutely everything ready before you begin. Once started there is no turning back! There will be no time to prepare any ingredients or to find something in a cabinet. You have been duly warned!

Prepare Rice:
(note: this step can be done up to 2 days in advance as long as rice is stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator)

Heat 1 cup uncooked rice in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. When rice is slightly browned and smells nutty, add chicken stock and turmeric. Stir well to combine, return to a boil, reduce heat to low Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is tender and all liquid has been absorbed. Remove from heat, let stand 5 minutes then fluff with fork. Set aside to cool.

Set up ingredients:

Have rice standing by. If prepared in advance and refrigerated, allow to warm to room temperature and fluff with fork before stir-frying.

Roast, peel, seed and chop poblanos. (a good tutorial on roasting peppers can be found here.)

Place eggs in a bowl. Add a small bit of salt and pepper and scramble with a fork.

Prepare all other ingredients and have them where you can reach them as needed. I prefer yo use small bowls or saucers for this, as it allows for quick addition to the stir-fry pan or wok, and counter space is rapidly reclaimed because the dishes can be stacked once used. For spices I use $0.89 3 packs of condiment bowls, which can be purchased at most mega-marts or online.

Let’s Get Cooking!:

Grab your stir fry pan. If you don’t have a stir fry pan, feel free to use a wok or just a very heavy skillet (cast iron works great as a stir fry medium.)

Place pan over high heat and allow to get hot for about 2 minutes. Add 1 tbsp oil. The oil should begin to smoke almost immediately. (This is a good thing!) Add eggs and scramble, stirring rapidly for about 1 minute. Remove eggs and set aside.

Wipe pan with a damp cloth if necessary to remove any stuck on bits of eggs. If left in the pan they will burn, adding a rather unpleasant flavor and aroma.

return pan to heat and allow to return to temperature. Add 2 tbsp. oil. When oil just begins to smoke, add onion and stir rapidly until just translucent (about 45 seconds), Add garlic and poblano, stirring rapidly for about a minute. Add Ro-Tel, cumin and oregano. Continue stirring rapidly until the entire mixture is heated through, about 45 seconds. Remove vegetables from pan. and set aside.

Return pan to heat and add 2 tbsp more oil (if there is oil left from the vegetables, just add 1 tbsp.) When oil is smoking, add rice, stirring vigorously. (The method here is more folding than stirring, but keep the rice moving at all times, otherwise it will stick and burn.) When about 1/4 of the rice has crisped and browned, return the vegetables and eggs beck in, stirring rapidly to combine all ingredients and break up any large pieces of egg.

Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Service:

This went great in a small bowl with a few wedges of lime. the lime juice really brings out the flavor of the whole dish, but you could use lemon if you prefer.

What I would have done differently had I thought of it at the time:

I’d have added some marinated pork or maybe some chorizo… Yeah, that’s it! Chorizo.

In closing.

I hope you enjoyed my little take on Mexican meets Asian fusion. I know I enjoyed creating it.

Share and Enjoy!

Jerry Russell (The Cooking by the seat of his Pants Guy.)