Cilantro Rice

My daughter loves to get the hand selected burrito at Chipotle's. They have the best cilantro rice and black beans, (which we both like) and the freshest guacamole that they make throughout the day. Since I figured out how to make cilantro rice I've made it several times. Maranda will always finish the leftovers for a snack the next day. It works great in a bento lunch too. I even made it in my rice cooker and brought it along with some black beans to the Super Bowl party. It was not on my mom's menu...so we had plenty of leftovers...which are great! Both the beans and rice.

Cilantro Rice:

1 cup long grain or basmati rice
2 cups water
1 tbsp oil or butter
1 bay leaf
2 tsp or more fresh cilantro, chopped fine
1 fresh lemon or lime or half and half (I didn't use all my lemon it was quite large)
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

Rinse the rice. In a 2-quart heavy sauce pan, heat oil or butter over low heat, saute the rice in oil until almost translucent.Add water and bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes until the rice is tender and water is absorbed. Set aside and let is set for about 30 minutes to steam, or fluff rice with a fork.




Remove bay leaf and mix in salt, citrus juice, and cilantro, you may want to transfer rice into a mixing bowl for this step. You can add a little more oil at this point if you like. The cilantro is the last thing that I would mix in to keep it nice and green.

I used a fresh lemon just picked from my tree...just look how large this one got!

I love having a lemon tree, it was a nice juicy lemon. I don't care for Meyer's lemons, to me they taste like sour oranges instead of a lemon...but that's just my opinion. I know there are a lot of Meyer's lemon lovers out there.

Here with the grilled shrimp and scallops I did add a little vermicelli to make kind of a pilaf. This rice goes well with anything. I have served it with anything from seafood to black beans.