Dinner, Lactose Free, Mexican, Recipes, Rice Dishes, Side Dishes

Rice with Poblanos & Corn

November 25, 2024

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

Recipe by Kiyo

Servings

6-8

servings

Adapted 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.

Appetizers, Dinner, Lactose Free, Recipes, Side Dishes, Summertime Meal, Vegan, Vegetarian, Veggies

Smoky Sweet Corn Riblets

September 9, 2023

If there is a better way to do corn on the cob than as corn “ribs” I have yet to find it. They are so good I’ve made them twice a week for three weeks in a row. I know I’m late to the game, corn ribs became a thing back in 2021. A recipe for corn ribs went viral on TikTok and ever since, people have been making corn ribs their thing too. There are tons of variations for seasoning corn ribs. Spicy, sweet, cheesy, buttery, herby and so on. This recipe comes from Bon Appetit and it’s just about perfect. Buttery, sweet and smoky.

The first time I tried to cut the corn into ribs I almost gave up. The corn cob is tough and hard to cut through. There were corn kernels on the floor, counter and backsplash, oops. I asked my husband to give me a hand. We tried a few different knives and found two that worked great along with a mezzaluna. I know that not everyone has a mezzaluna but it sure came in handy for cutting corn ribs.

The first step after removing the husk and silk from the corn is to cut off the ends of the corn so they are flat. This is important! The next step is to cut the corn in half diagonally. This will make it much easier to cut the corn into riblets and being shorter to cut through means less risk of accidents. It is much more difficult to cut down the entire length of the corn cob when it is long. You will now be able to stand the corn on end and cut into riblets.

Here we are cutting the corn in half with a mezzaluna. It worked well because you are able to control your cutting with both hands. It’s very stable.

This time we cut the corn in half with a very sharp chef’s knife. It also worked well and will likely be what most people have available.

The third option is to use a very sharp Nakiri knife which is a traditional Japanese vegetable knife.

When slicing the corn with a chef’s or Nakiri knife, wearing a thick oven glove will help to stabilize the knife while you use pressure to cut through the corn cob.

The mezzaluna was the winner for cutting the corn into quarters but both the chef’s knife and Nikiri knife also worked.

This is what your corn should look like once you cut it into riblets.

The corn is seasoned with a little oil, salt and pepper. It roasts at 450 degrees for 10 minutes before being turned.

The corn already looks delicious after being in the oven for a short time.

After roasting for 10 minutes, the corn wedges are turned cob side up and roasted for another 10 minutes.

The corn riblets have been in the oven for 20 minutes and have taken on a nice color and smell divine. At this point they are cooked and ready to eat. But broiling the riblets for a minute or two will encourage lots of smoky flavor and a bit of charring around the edges which is always a good thing.

Corn riblets are best served soon after they emerge from the oven while still warm. Slather with smoky sweet butter and start nibbling on those delectable corn riblets. There’s no better way that I can think of, to prepare fresh corn.