Mexican Rice Mix — The Side Dish That Keeps the Kitchen Running Through Tamale Season

Christmas season, year four. Twenty-eight tamale orders. Up from twenty-two last year. I do the math: approximately thirteen hundred tamales needed. Yolanda, Graciela, Sofia, and me. A thousand three hundred tamales from four women and a kitchen that was designed for a neighborhood bakery, not a tamale factory. But we do it because Rosa did it — Rosa made a thousand tamales in a kitchen the size of a closet, and I have a commercial kitchen and three women who know what they're doing, and if I can't make thirteen hundred tamales with these resources then I have dishonored the woman who made a thousand with nothing.

The production starts Monday. I've planned the week: chile colorado pork on Monday and Tuesday. Green chile chicken on Wednesday and Thursday. Assembly and steaming Thursday through Saturday. Delivery on Sunday, December 23. Nochebuena pickups on Monday, December 24. The schedule is posted on the bakery wall. Sofia made it. Of course Sofia made it.

Diego is building Christmas presents again. The workshop (his bedroom corner) is active — the sound of drilling and soldering and the occasional small explosion (a capacitor popped; no injuries; Diego considers capacitor explosions "character building"). This year he is making something that involves a motor and a timer and a purpose he won't reveal. He has labeled it "Project X" on his workbench, which is the desk he has converted by covering it with a sheet of plywood and bolting a vise to it. He is ten. He has a vise. I have a vise-owning ten-year-old. Rosa would not understand the vise. Alejandro would have.

I made champurrado in the bakery — the big batches, the December tradition. The construction workers come in rubbing their hands (December mornings in El Paso are thirty-five degrees, which for desert people is Arctic) and they wrap their hands around the cups of champurrado and close their eyes and the kitchen is warm and the steam rises and for those three minutes — the three minutes between the first sip and the last — the world is perfect. Three minutes of perfection, repeated daily, in December. That is what the bakery sells. Not bread. Not coffee. Not champurrado. Three minutes of perfection. Rosa sold the same thing from a kitchen in Anapra. Different kitchen. Same product. Same three minutes.

The schedule on the bakery wall doesn’t leave room for complicated sides—not when every hour from Monday through Saturday belongs to the tamales. But the workers come in hungry, and hungry people need more than champurrado, so somewhere between the chile colorado and the assembly line I keep this Mexican rice mix ready to go: measured, seasoned, waiting. It’s the kind of thing Rosa would have approved of—practical, flavorful, and designed so that feeding people doesn’t require stopping what you’re doing. Sofia put it on the schedule too.

Mexican Rice Mix

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
• 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon powder
• 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons tomato powder (or 2 tablespoons tomato paste, added at cook time)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (added at cook time)
• 3 cups water or low-sodium chicken broth (added at cook time)

Instructions

1. Combine the dry mix. In a small bowl or jar, stir together the bouillon powder, dried minced onion, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, oregano, black pepper, and tomato powder until evenly blended. Store with the rice in a labeled container until ready to cook.
2. Toast the rice. When ready to cook, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan or deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the rice and stir constantly for 3–4 minutes until the grains turn golden and smell nutty.
3. Add the seasoning mix. Pour the dry mix over the toasted rice and stir to coat evenly, cooking for 30 seconds to bloom the spices in the oil.
4. Add liquid. Carefully pour in 3 cups of water or chicken broth and stir once to combine. Bring to a boil over high heat.
5. Simmer covered. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover tightly, and cook for 18–20 minutes until all liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
6. Rest and fluff. Remove from heat and let the rice rest, still covered, for 5 minutes. Uncover, fluff with a fork, and serve immediately alongside tamales or your main dish.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 220 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 5g | Carbs: 39g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 480mg