MEXICAN CILANTRO AND LIME RICE

It was great as a side dish, but also great as a filler for a burrito!

The following receipe is from Closet Cooking and it is tweaked copycat/upgraded version of the lime rice in Chipotle's burritos.

I had to tweak it further as I used quick rice and have dried instead of fresh cilantro and the second time I made it did not have any fresh garlic so I had to use chopped garlic from a jar.

It was great as a side dish, but also great as a filler for a burrito!

http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/2009/03/cilantro-and-lime-rice.html

This recipe make about 4 side dish servings (note, in some of the pics are from the second time I made this and I tripled the recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 large onion or 1 small onion
• 1 clove garlic (chopped) or 1 TBSP of chopped garlic from a jar
• 1 cup quick cook rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 handful fresh cilantro (chopped) or 1/4 cup dried cilantro
• 1 TBSP lime juice or juice and zest of 1 lime (zest is optional)
• 1 TBSP Kosher or Coarse salt (like the kind used on the rim of margarita glasses)

Heat the oil in a pan.

Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes, then the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.

Add the rice and toast in the oil for a few minutes. Add the water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat. Cover the pan and allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Mix in the cilantro

Add in lime juice (if you use juice from a bottle, 3 capfuls is 1 TBSP) and zest.

Stir in the salt