Mexican food week

This week we seem to have fallen into a Mexican food theme.  We made tacos from a kit, salsa and rice from scratch.  Next time we make tacos we're just going to buy the tortillas and make our own seasoning, the kit was okay but we can make better seasonings and salsa ourselves.  I wanted refried beans with the tacos so I bought a can, but I want to make them myself -- a can of refried beans was almost $4!

Here are the recipes we used for the salsa and rice.  They are variations of other recipes I've found and combined.

Salsa Fresca

Ingredients

5 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced

½ spanish onion, diced

½ medium red bell pepper, diced

½ medium yellow bell pepper, diced

1 bunch cilantro, finely minced

1 tbsp lime juice

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon oregano

3 jalapeno-type peppers or to taste

Method

Chop all ingredients to a fine dice and mix in a bowl, add seasonings and let stand for 30 minutes.  Eat.

Mexican Rice

Ingredients

1 c raw long grain rice 

1 tbs olive oil

1 c tomato (canned or fresh), chopped

2 tsp chili seasoning

½ onion, chopped

¼ green pepper, chopped

1 tsp salt

1 c water

1 tsp smoked paprika, sweet or hot (optional)

1/2 c sweet corn kernels (frozen/canned/fresh) (optional)

Method

Brown raw rice in a frying pan, add other ingredients and stir for a few seconds, add water to just cover the mixture.  Bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer, cover pan and cook for 30 minutes.  DO NOT STIR.
Remove pan from heat after 30 minutes is up, the rice should be cooked and no liquid left in the pan.  Fluff the mixture with a fork and serve.

Notes: Make sure you're using raw (uncooked) rice.  I usually use canned tomatoes and replace some of the water with the juice from the can.