# Mexican Rice



## CharlieD (Feb 23, 2006)

I'm looking for a simple recipe for large quantity of rice. i have to cook for about 100 people. Please help.
Profeccionals, are you out there what do you recomend?


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## Michael in FtW (Feb 23, 2006)

Mexican rice is really easy - basically just garlic, onion, green or red bell pepper, salt, tomatoes, oil and long grains white rice - here is a good recipe with some narative (click here to skip the commentary and just get the recipe) that is basically what I make. Cooking enough for 100 people at one time is going to take a little plan-ahead planning to cook it in batches and reheat it at serving time.

Hope this helps.


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## CharlieD (Feb 23, 2006)

Michael, Okay, thaks, so you are saying I should cook in small batches rather than whole thing at once? Cooking tecknique (sp?) is more of an issue here, recipes for rice are simple.


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## bobngreen (Feb 23, 2006)

*rice*

Hi Charlie:

It is difficult to cook that quanity or rice in a home kitchen.

This is how I would do it:

get a rice cooker from an Asian grocery. 2 cups of rice 3 cups water
1 tsp salt. when cooked, dump on a sheet pan or large shallow dish to cool.

For 100 servings you need to do 10 batches. After eash batch cools put in storage bag and store in refrigator. This process improves the texture of the rice.  Saute 10 large spanish onions, 1 bulb garlic diced, handful Mexican oregano, 3 jars nopalitos diced and drained.  Add vegetables to 1 gallon tomato sauce mixed with 1 quart of water.  Mix with cooked rice.

 to reheat fill disposable aluminum roasting pans 2/3 full of mixture cover with foil and reheat in a 300 degree oven for 45-60 minutes.

I hope this helps you.

Bob


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## Robo410 (Feb 23, 2006)

if you have big enough pots and pans, you can oven cook this like a paella, but even so...a 6 quart pot is only going to be able to handle 3 to 4 cups of uncooked rice ... that's 8 cups of broth or water, plus the chopped sauted veggies etc.  

so you got 1 oven and 4 burners ... or are you using a professional or catering kitchen?? 

Hotel trays hold quite a bit but are not great to cook in as they are pure SS which does not hold or spread the heat well.


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## CharlieD (Feb 23, 2006)

I'm going to cook in comercial kitchen, I guess, I should have mention this to begin with. It is not well stocked kitchen, but never the less it has two 6 burners stoves one with convection oven, and one with regular, plust there is a large convection oven.


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## CharlieD (Feb 23, 2006)

Bob, I kind like your idea. Let's talk some more, I just need to have it think into my head. It is somewhat simular to the way I make Chinese fried rice. I cook one day and next day I fry with all the fixings and then i freeze it and then reheat in the oven. So it is very simular here. Sory for babeling I'm just trying to understand the process and the recipe.


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## CharlieD (Feb 23, 2006)

Bob, so I am looking at about 40 cups of cooked rice right? If rice doubles right?
 Also what can i substitud "3 jars nopalitos " with? I know, I'm sure I will not find them here?


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## Dina (Feb 23, 2006)

Charlie,
Make sure you fry the rice in oil before you add water or chicken stock to it - that makes it Mexican rice! Ground cumin and garlic are a must.  You might want to add tomato sauce, bell peppers and onions.  I use Knorr chicken bouillon and there's also a tomato/chicken flavor one to give rice a great color and flavor.  If you need additional Mexican food recipes, I'd be glad to help.  That's the food I basically grew up with.


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## AllenOK (Feb 23, 2006)

Ok Charlie, here's my recipe:

Allen’s Mexican Rice
Yields:  about 3 c

2 T vegetable oil
½ c chopped onions
½ c chopped green bell peppers
2 T frozen peas, optional
2 T frozen corn, optional
1 t minced garlic
1 T Mexican Seasoning Mix
1 t cumin
½ t chili powder
½ t oregano
One 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 ½ c rice
2 c chicken stock
2 t salt, or to taste

	In a saucepan, heat the oil.  Add the onions, bell peppers, garlic, and if you desire, the peas and corn.  Season with the Mexican Seasoning Mix, cumin, chili powder, and oregano.  Sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and beginning to become translucent.  Add the rice and sauté until the rice is toasty.  Add the tomato sauce and stir until it’s fairly well blended.  Increase the heat to medium-high and cook this mixture until the tomato sauce mixture begins to caramelize a bit.  Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Stir to make sure everything is mixed well.  Check the seasoning and add more salt if needed.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 18 minutes.  When done, fluff with a fork and serve.

Mexican Seasoning Mix

¼ c chili powder
¼ c cumin
¼ c ground coriander
¼ c granulated garlic
1/8 c ground black pepper
1/8 c red pepper flakes
1 T salt

	Blend together and store in an airtight container.

The basic recipe yields about six servings of 1/2 c each.  For 100 people, you'll need to multiply everything by 16.6666666667.  You'll probably need to bump the Mexican Seasoning mix a couple times, at least.

When it comes to cooking it, if the kitchen you're going to be using has a tilt skillet, use that.  It's a HUGE skillet that can hold an extremely large quantity of food.  Mexican Rice for 100 won't be a problem.

If you don't have access to a tilt skillet, just saute everything in the largest pan you can get.  You may have to split this up into two or more batches, cooking all at once.  When you get to the point where you're ready to add the liquid, take rice/vegetable mixture and divide it evenly between some 4" hotel pans (ask the cooks or chef for them, they'll know what they are).  Deglaze the pans with the stock, and bring the liquid up to a boil, and CAREFULLY divide that evenly between the hotel pans.  Cover those hotel pans with foil, and place them into a 350°F for 25 - 30 minutes.

If you have the time, see if the chef or food purchasing agent for the kitchen can get you some boxes of Sysco Mexican rice.  This is a pre-boxed mix that's pretty good.  I'm not sure how many people one box will feed.

Hopefully this helps.


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## Dina (Feb 24, 2006)

Charlie,
I just sent you lots of Mexican recipes through PM.  Sorry it took me this long-had to catch up on a lot of stuff.  I hope you enjoy them and good luck on cooking the feast.


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## bobngreen (Feb 24, 2006)

*rice*

Hi Charlie:

green bell peppers are a good sub foir the nopalitos.  
Then mexican secion of the supermarket is a good place to find them.

cooling the rice and restin in the frig helps tbe texture for adding oher suff to it. The re-heating process is simple.


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## bobngreen (Mar 5, 2006)

*100 people*

Hi Charlie:

How did the dinner for 100 go? I'm sure it was lots of fun.

Bob


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## Dina (Mar 5, 2006)

Yes Charlie.  I'm anxious to hear how they liked my recipes.  Let us know how all turned out.


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## CharlieD (Mar 6, 2006)

Diner is not till next week tuesday, the 14th, will post detaled report then.


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