Tomatoes blended with broth and poured over rice that has been toasted in oil with onion. The colour comes from the tomato rather than from any colouring, and the tomatoes count as liquid.
The tomatoes are liquid too
This is the thing that made the recipe fail and it is easy to miss because it happens in the blender.
Three ripe tomatoes go in with the broth, the quarter onion, salt and pepper, and everything is blended together. Those tomatoes are mostly water, and blended they yield around a cup of purée.
So the liquid that reaches the rice is the broth plus that cup. With three cups of broth, as the recipe used to say, the rice was getting over four cups when a cup and a half of rice needs three. It came out heavy and wet.
Two cups of broth plus the tomatoes gives the three cups the rice actually wants. If you are unsure, measure what comes out of the blender and top it up to three.
Red from tomato, not from colouring
A lot of red rice recipes get their colour from achiote, paprika or a sachet of colorante. This one does not.
The tomatoes are doing it, which is why they go into the blender rather than being chopped into the pot: blended, they distribute their colour through every grain instead of sitting in it as pieces.
The paprika on the ingredient list is marked for decoration, and that is what it is for. It goes over the rice on the plate.
Onion in two forms
A quarter of the onion goes into the blender and the rest is chopped and fried in the oil before the rice.
Blended raw, it gives a sharp background flavour that spreads through the liquid. Fried, it goes sweet and soft and sits in the rice as pieces. Using both is deliberate and it is why the recipe reads oddly at first.
Toasting and covering
The rice goes into the oil with the fried onion and gets stirred until every grain is coated and translucent. That is nacarar, to pearl, and it is what keeps the grains separate in a pot with this much tomato in it.
Then the blended liquid, a boil, and the lid goes on the moment the liquid falls to the level of the rice. Twenty minutes on low from there, and a few minutes of resting off the heat before it is served.
More rice
- Colombian white rice — the plain everyday one.
- Arroz con zanahoria — the same method with carrot.
- Arroz con chorizo — with sausage through it.
- Arroz primavera — with peas and corn.
- Yellow rice — the other coloured rice.
Red Rice FAQ
Three cups, for a cup and a half of rice. The tomatoes are part of that: three ripe ones blended give about a cup of purée, so the broth is two cups and the tomatoes make up the rest. Measure what comes out of the blender.
Because the old recipe asked for three cups of broth on top of the blended tomatoes, which put more than four cups of liquid into a cup and a half of rice. Two cups of broth is the correct amount once the tomato purée is counted.
The tomatoes, blended into the cooking liquid. There is no colouring in this recipe. The paprika at the end is for the top of the served rice, not for the pot.
Stirring it through hot oil until each grain is coated and turns from chalky to translucent. The Spanish verb is nacarar. It keeps the grains separate and adds a toasted flavour.
When the liquid has fallen to the level of the rice and craters appear on the surface. Not when the pot is dry: by then the bottom has started to stick.
So its flavour goes through the whole pot rather than staying in pieces. The rest is chopped and fried, which gives a different, sweeter taste. The recipe uses both.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups rice
- 3 ripe tomatoes
- 1 onion (a quarter goes in the blender, the rest is chopped)
- 2 cups chicken broth or water (blended with the tomatoes)
- Oil
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- Paprika (to taste, for colour on top)
Notas
Instructions
- In a blender, put the 3 ripe tomatoes with the chicken broth or water, a quarter of the onion, salt and pepper. Blend and set aside. You should have about 3 cups of liquid.
- Heat the oil in a pot and add the rest of the onion, finely chopped. Sauté for a few minutes until it is soft.
- Add the rice and stir it constantly through the oil until every grain is coated and turns from chalky white to slightly translucent.
- After a few minutes, pour in the blended mixture and bring it to a boil.
- When the liquid has fallen to the level of the rice and craters appear on the surface, turn the heat low and cover the pot.
- Let it cook for about 20 minutes more.
- Take it off the heat and let it rest a few minutes before serving.
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