Pinto/Spanish Rice Burritos 1-25-09

Ingredient list:

Big Flour Tortillas - 4 of em

(Spanish Rice)
Tomato Paste - one itty can
Olive Oil - a couple tsp
White Rice - I used Jasmine, one cup
Vegetable Stock - one can, 16oz
Yellow Onion - about a quarter of a large one, chopped
Garlic - 3 cloves, minced
Oregano - a few shakes

(Beans)
Pinto Beans - 1 can (rinsed!)
Diced Tomatoes - 1 can
Chili Powder - pinch
Garlic Powder - tiny shake
Jalapeno Pepper - 1/5th pepper, the tip, chopped fine


First I made the Spanish rice:

1. You put a little bit of olive oil in your skillet and heat it to medium.
2. Add uncooked rice and stir often, browning the rice.
3. Once rice is browned add garlic and onion. Cook about 4 minutes, stirring often (don't let your rice burn!) until onion is tender.
4. Add stock and tomato paste.
5. Add oregano, stir until all the paste is blended into the stock, will be thick.
6. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and cover. Check after 20 minutes, should be done...cook times vary.
7. Remove from heat, let stand covered (after ascertaining doneness) 5 minutes

Then the beans:

1. Drain and rinse beans (not a lot, but enough to get a good bit of the slime off)
2. Add to sauce pot
3. Drain tomatoes, get as much liquid out of them as possible, squeeze them if you have to
4. Add to beans
5. Heat mixture on a low medium heat, allow moisture to accumulate.
6. Add powders to your taste, and salt and pepper if desired (I would recommend going light on the salt as the paste is salty and when the tastes are together I find this adequate.)
7. Add the jalapeno and stir well.
8. Cover and place on low.

Heat your oven to 250 degrees. Place tortillas directly on rack for a couple of minutes until they are warm and puffy. Try to time this so that your rice is done resting (the 5 minutes) when the tortillas are just coming out of the oven.

Presentation:

If you can find and tolerate vegan cheese and sour cream I think they would improve this dish. Some avocado slices or shredded lettuce probably would have been nice also. Anything that you would normally like in a burrito, go for it. These were not exceptionally spicy, so you could slice up the rest of the jalapeno and add it.

What I did was put a portion of the bean mixture and the rice on each plate and I had the tortillas on their own plate. It worked really well as an easy build you're own. The rice was very pasty, like baked rice, which made for a very clean and easy burrito. The beans were also not too wet.

Things I would try differently:

• I would like to add something crunchy in the mix, lettuce sounds really good to me
• The rice cooked faster than I anticipated because (I believe) the paste made the stock thick and I lost a little stock when I added it because the pan was still hot. More stock should probably be added...but if less paste can be used and produce the same effect this would be much more preferable. I would hate to buy a whole other can of stock for the few tablespoons more needed.

The Meat Eater's (husband's) verdict: Very Good

If you notice anything in this or any other recipe posted that is not vegan, please please let me know. I'm still learning and I am often missing small animal product ingredients. Thanks