Easy Spanish (Mexican) Rice 西班牙米饭

In my regular search for easy recipes with different cultural origins and using the search term, “Spanish”, I ran into this dish. It turned out a lot of “Spanish Rice” recipes are “Mexican Rice.” A lot of people think they are the same dishes. I later learned that there are some noticeable distinctions between these two dishes. Google told me that true Spanish Rice is yellow because saffron is used as an ingredient while Mexican Rice is light red/orange due to inclusion of cumin. I guess for folks growing up in Spanish speaking countries, this might seem dumb that I don’t know the difference between Spanish and Mexican rice. The good thing is that I didn’t feel I need to strictly follow either recipes.

Based on the recipes Google showed to me, I replaced saffron with turmeric powder as I happened to have some left over from cooking some Indian dishes. Even when I forget to add turmeric powder, I don’t use cumin powder either. Without turmeric powder, the reddish color of the finished dish simply comes from tomato. Another change I made was adding chopped chicken breast/tender meat. To me, the most critical thing of this dish is the amount of liquid, either from broth or tomato, you add. You don’t want your rice to be too wet. If you add more tomato (I used salsa), you need to reduce the amount of stock. I am also pretty cautious about my sodium intake and I didn’t add additional salt to the rice.

My goal was finding an easy, flavorful and nutritious dish that could work as side dish or stand-alone lunch dish. Adding chicken lets the dish have carbs, protein, and some fiber. Once it is pre-cooked, it can make a great lunch option.