Cilantro Rice
By: Anonymous
Published: Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 6:33pm

Ingredients




1 cup fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves
1 fresh jalapeno chili stemmed
cup vegetable broth
2 teaspoons olive oil
cup long-grain white rice
1 teaspoon onion powder
teaspoon ground cumin
cup grated carrot
Salt (optional), to taste
Fresh cilantro sprigs for garnish

Preparation

1 In a blender, whirl 1 cup cilantro, garlic, chili, and 1 cup broth until smooth. 2 In a 3- to 4-quart pan over medium heat, stir oil, rice, onion powder, and cumin until rice is pale golden, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in cilantro mixture, remaining broth, and carrot. Cover, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 18 minutes. 3 If desired, season to taste with salt. Garnish with cilantro sprigs. 4 This recipe yields 4 or 5 servings. 5 Comments: Sarojni Mehta-Lissak of Long Beach, California, comes from a family of passionate home cooks. "My dad is from India, and I was raised with Indian food. His whole side of the family loves cooking." From an early age, Mehta-Lissak also took an interest, watching her parents at the stove. By the time she was in high school, she was checking out cookbooks instead of novels from the library. 6 She married into a family that's equally enthusiastic about food. Her husband is a vegetarian, and they experiment with many ethnic dishes and flavorings, such as achiote, which she encountered in the Yucatan peninsula. 7 The same sense of adventure extends to Mehta-Lissak's low-fat cooking. Generous levels of seasonings, not oil, give her dishes their character. 8 A trip to a Mexican restaurant inspired this aromatic rice dish. She enjoys it with tacos or tostadas and a green salad livened up with jicama, cilantro, red onions, and red bell peppers. 9 At dinnertime Mehta-Lissak gets a hand from her daughter, Sumi, who at age 2 is already following in her mother's footsteps. "She loves being in the kitchen. She helps peel carrots to go in the rice - I put my hand over hers on the grater."