Anybody cook Mexican rice? I crave it. I think I figured out how a local restaurant does theirs except for flavoring. It looks like they use long-grain rice and run it through a food processer, tricky not to grind it too fine, it's smaller than medium-grain and fluffs up so nicely! Then brown gently on top of stove until translucent, add chicken broth and some tomato (not too much) processed fine with onions. I'll never get the taste or texture right.
It's very subtly flavored and not dry but sticks together so well that it is easy to eat with a fork. Very satisfying.
Their refried beans are dark, spicy, pretty smooth, and I detect some cumin. The rest I'm not sure. Top with cheese and heat. Maybe they are pinto beans mixed with black bans or all black beans. I just don't know but I crave them, too.
I use Knorr's
Mi Arroz rice seasoning with Uncle Ben's rice, 1 Cup Rice, 2 Cups water, 1.5 Tbs butter and 1/2 Tps salt. After it is cooked, I add some chopped onions, maybe a few room-temperature green peas and a little cilantro as the rice is cooling. Adding those after cooking keeps them crisp, but a little exposure to the heat of the rice softens the onions. You can add a little Cayenne Pepper powder to the rice before cooking to spice it up. The red-orange color in Mexican rice is imparted by a small pinch of
Annatto powder, which is sometimes found in Hispanic grocery stores an Achiote.