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.
Even though it may seem like rice has always been there, it is one of the more recent ingredients used in Mexican cuisine, having arrived in the new world with Spanish and Portuguese colonists, along with beef, cheese and old world spices like cumin - all of which are now part and parcel of the country's culinary heritage. Many of Mexico's traditional rice recipes date back to shortly after the first rice crops were grown in the country.
Classic Mexican Rice Recipes
One of the best known and most popular of all Mexican rice dishes is arroz con pollo, which is also among the most popular Mexican chicken recipes. The name means "rice with chicken" and is the Mexican version of a classic comfort food combination.
Arroz con pollo is an excellent example of how recipes, which originated in Spain became Mexican recipes through adaptation to use locally available ingredients as well as to work in flavors and ingredients, which became popular with the European settlers. In the case of this recipe, tomatoes found their way in to the cooking pot, as did the more assertive Mexican oregano as a substitute for the European variety, which was unavailable in the country.
Spanish Cuisine Adapts To 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.
Not only is the tomato often featured in Spanish paella from the Americas, but also bell peppers, another new world crop are also often used. Here you have an example of the cuisines of Spain and Mexico having a sort of conversation with each other across the Atlantic Ocean, with European cooks finding the new vegetables and fruits from the Americas valuable additions to their own recipes and the people of Mexico making the ingredients and recipes of Europe their own.
Another well-known traditional Mexican rice recipe is the seasoned rice, which is often served along with bean dishes and almost everything else. This recipe is very similar to what is also called "Spanish rice" but just like paella, Mexico has its own version of this ubiquitous side dish and happens to be the original home of some of its ingredients!
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.
Even though it may seem like rice has always been there, it is one of the more recent ingredients used in Mexican cuisine, having arrived in the new world with Spanish and Portuguese colonists, along with beef, cheese and old world spices like cumin - all of which are now part and parcel of the country's culinary heritage. Many of Mexico's traditional rice recipes date back to shortly after the first rice crops were grown in the country.
Classic Mexican Rice Recipes
One of the best known and most popular of all Mexican rice dishes is arroz con pollo, which is also among the most popular Mexican chicken recipes. The name means "rice with chicken" and is the Mexican version of a classic comfort food combination.
Arroz con pollo is an excellent example of how recipes, which originated in Spain became Mexican recipes through adaptation to use locally available ingredients as well as to work in flavors and ingredients, which became popular with the European settlers. In the case of this recipe, tomatoes found their way in to the cooking pot, as did the more assertive Mexican oregano as a substitute for the European variety, which was unavailable in the country.
Spanish Cuisine Adapts To 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.
Not only is the tomato often featured in Spanish paella from the Americas, but also bell peppers, another new world crop are also often used. Here you have an example of the cuisines of Spain and Mexico having a sort of conversation with each other across the Atlantic Ocean, with European cooks finding the new vegetables and fruits from the Americas valuable additions to their own recipes and the people of Mexico making the ingredients and recipes of Europe their own.
Another well-known traditional Mexican rice recipe is the seasoned rice, which is often served along with bean dishes and almost everything else. This recipe is very similar to what is also called "Spanish rice" but just like paella, Mexico has its own version of this ubiquitous side dish and happens to be the original home of some of its ingredients!
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.
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