Mexican Red Rice: Arroz Rojo

Often termed "Spanish rice" in the US, the fact is, this dish is not a part of the cuisine in Spain, where such rice dishes often use saffron, making them yellow in color (think Spanish "paella"). There are numerous variations to making red rice in Mexico, but I've chosen to go a little beyond the basic recipe. When I was a little kid, my mother made "Spanish rice" with bacon grease, tomatoes, onion and green peppers. How she learned to make it that way, I have no idea, but as to the use of only green pepper, in those days, red, yellow and orange bell peppers were considerably more expensive than green peppers. This is my own recipe and I do like some "heat" in many foods, so this has some chili pepper, although, of course, you can leave it out, scale it back, or increase it, depending upon your preferences. My mother never used chili peppers in the rice, but back then, you didn't really see fresh chili peppers in stores, and my father didn't like spicy hot food anyway. Just to clarify, I'm sure stores in some parts of the U.S. had chili peppers, especially those in the southwestern part of the country.   

Ingredients:

1 cup white rice (I use long grain rice)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 serrano chili, finely chopped (for more heat, use 2 serranos, for less heat, use 1 seeded jalapeño pepper)
3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 cup tomato sauce
1 tablespoon mild Spanish paprika
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons ancho chili powder (or your favorite chili powder)
2 teaspoons adobo seasoning
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. When the oil is hot, add the rice and saute until it begins to brown, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Add the onion, the chopped red and green pepper, the chopped tomato and the serrano chili pepper. Cook until the vegetables begin to soften (they will cook further). Add the tomato sauce, the paprika, the chili powder and the adobo seasoning; stir to mix in the seasonings. Add the broth, stir, and reduce the heat to the point where the liquid gently simmers. Cover the skillet (lid or foil) and cook until the liquid is absorbed (can vary from about 25 to 35 minutes, or even longer). Add the chopped cilantro and then use a fork to mix in the cilantro. 

WORD HISTORY:
Quay-This word is distantly related to "hedge," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Quay" goes back to Indo European "kagh," which had the idea of "to enclose," which spawned the noun form "kaghom," meaning, "enclosure." This gave Old Celtic "kaghyo," meaning "pen, fenced in area," and this was passed to Gaulish, an old Celtic language, as "caium," with the same general meaning. This was taken by Old French as "cai," seemingly with the initial meaning of, "sandbank" (a ridge of sand that builds up in water to "enclose" a section of that water), but then the idea of a sandbank brought about "platform, or raised area for ships to dock; thus, "quay." English borrowed the word circa 1700, but the spelling varied, including cay, caye, key(e).