This beautiful rice dish, fragrant from roasted poblanos and sweet corn kernels, is a flavorful side dish to accompany your favorite Mexican meals. The poblanos give the rice a rich smoky flavor and fresh corn kernels add a sweet and satisfying texture.
The hint of allspice in the rice adds a warm depth of flavor that makes this rice unlike other rice dishes I often make.
Long grain or jasmine rice works well for this dish. I love the scent of jasmine rice as it cooks, filling the kitchen with its light floral scent.
A toaster oven is the way to go when roasting the poblanos. If you don’t own one, you can easily roast them in your oven or on a grill. You want them to get nicely charred so that smoky flavor shines through in the rice.
I love how the poblanos rise to the top as the rice cooks. It’s one of the most beautiful rice dishes to serve as part of your Mexican inspired meal.
I serve this delicious rice with all types of Mexican food including, but not limited to, enchiladas. It also makes a tasty snack on its own.
Rice with Poblanos & Corn
6-8
servingsAdapted from Nopalito cookbook
Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
2 cups jasmine or long grain white rice
1 tablespoon Earth Balance Buttery Sticks or regular butter
2/3 cup finely chopped white onion
1 1/4 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 2 small ears of corn) or 3/4 cup canned or frozen corn well drained
1 1/4 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 scant teaspoon ground allspice (optional but recommended)
3 cups chicken broth (for vegetarian version, Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base or other vegetarian broth of choice)
3 medium poblano chiles (1/2 pound), roasted, peeled, seeded stemmed and sliced into 1 x 1/4-inch strips (see notes below)
Directions
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan (one that has a lid, such as a Dutch oven) over medium to medium- high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the rice and cook, stirring often, until it starts to become milky white, about 2-3 minutes, adjusting the heat as needed.
- Clear a space in the center of the pan and add the butter, onion and corn. Stir together with the rice and cook over medium heat until the onion begins to soften, about 2-3 minutes. Add the salt and allspice, stirring well. Stir in the broth. Bring to a boil, add the poblanos, stir and bring back to a boil. Turn the heat down to low, cover the pot and set a timer for 20 minutes. Do not open the pot while the rice is cooking.
- Turn off the heat and let rice sit covered for 15 minutes before fluffing and serving. (The lid will have quite a bit of condensation on it. When uncovering the rice, quickly flip the lid over so the water does not drip into the rice).
Notes
- To roast the chiles, wash, pat dry and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Broil in a toaster oven (4 inches from broiler element) or regular oven (6 inches from broiler element) for 15+ minutes, turning frequently with tongs to allow charring on all sides. Place the roasted peppers in a bowl covered with plastic wrap or a zip top bag and allow the peppers to sweat for 15 minutes to soften the skin before peeling.
- I found that using 1 1/2 cups frozen or canned corn (in place of fresh) added too much moisture to the rice so I decreased the amount to 3/4 cup. Leftover rice can be frozen for a few months.
