Mike orchekowski's three-spice cajun-spanish

8 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 cup Rice, uncooked
Salt
Water
1 can Condensed tomato soup (10oz) OR
1 can Tomato sauce (15 oz) OR
1 can Tomato paste (8 oz)
Black pepper
Red pepper flakes
Louisiana hot pepper sauce
Soy sauce

Directions

1. Run tap water until hot. Fill container with water to cover double height of rice. Add rice. Let sit for 5 minutes, stirring. Drain in colander. (This step eliminates 90% of the surface starch from the rice kernels, and reduces the foam generated during cooking.) 2. Fill pan with water, leaving ¾" clear at top. Set on burner; bring to full rapid boil. Add salt, some soy sauce (about ½ teaspoon), and a little hot sauce (about ½ teaspoon) to the water.

Let boil for 1 minute WITHOUT rice. (This lets the hot sauce's solids "leach" their flavor into the water.) Now add rice. Bring to full rapid boil. Trim off the heat until the foam just barely remains. Let boil for 10 minutes, stirring every minute or two. Drain in colander; rinse pan well.

3. Reduce burner heat to near-minimum. Open can of tomato soup or tomato paste; empty into pan. Add ½ to ¾ can of water to soup (if using tomato paste, use full can of water); stir well. (You may substitute tomato sauce, omitting water.) Add soy sauce, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to soup mixture; stir well. Place on burner and bring to near boil, about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. (This step lets the spice flavor elements "leach" into the tomato soup mixture.) Add rice and coat rice well. Let simmer for 1 minute, stirring. Empty into serving dish.

NOTE: The amount of salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, soy sauce, and Louisiana hot pepper sauce to add is up to you, depending on how spicy you want the rice to get. When you are adding salt to the water, however, I recommend 2 tablespoons at least, to get the water "less pure" and thus raising the boiling point. This way, the rice cooks faster. Also, if you want to add something to the rice to give some extra texture, such as a can of vegetables (corn, peas, garbanzos, etc.) or a can of tuna (two 6-ounce or one 12-ounce can(s) should do nicely), you do this as well.

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