I know what you’re thinking. Radioactive Rice? Don’t worry, the dish isn’t radioactive. I named this recipe that way after my sister said it looked radioactive because of the color (yellow-green). However, I'm warning you, it is explosive with flavor.
As always, welcome back to another edition of Cooking with Sam. For this week, I had to get creative. I knew I wanted to use more turmeric and use up the rest of the salsa verde we had.
I’ve been making a lot of pasta and cheesy recipes, so I wanted something different. I thought I should make rice. My goal is to make every recipe as different as possible.
Ingredients:
-Salsa Verde
3 Tomatillos
Half an Onion
1 garlic clove
¼ of Cilantro Bunch (or less, you don’t need a lot.)
-Rice
1 cup of Mahatma Rice
1 tbsp of turmeric
Lawry’s Red Seasoning (to taste)
1 tbsp of butter
-Potato and Onion Side
Olive Oil
1-2 tbsp
1 Russet potato
Lawry’s Red Seasoning (to taste)
1 garlic clove
1 tall green onion bulb
Kinder’s Organic Buttery Steakhouse
-Rotisserie Chicken Leftovers or just chicken in general (not much is needed)
Let’s get started. Technically I didn’t have to start from scratch this time, which was nice.
I went ahead and started with the rice. Following the instructions on the Mahatma packet, you will need a pot, one cup of rice, and 2 cups of water. While the water is boiling, you will stir in the rice. Make sure you’ve washed the rice because otherwise, it will have this unpleasant starchy flavor to it. It’ll also help remove any unwanted dust.
While the rice is cooking, turn the heat down to low and cover it with a lid. Don’t forget to add the seasonings, 1 tbsp of butter, Lawry’s, and 1 tbsp of turmeric. You’ll wait about 15-20 minutes.
During this time, wash the one potato along with the tall green onion bulb. Carefully skin the potato and chop up the onion. Also, if you’re a real fan of potatoes or fries, I suggest adding another russet potato. They were so yummy that I felt like I should have made more, but it was okay because it ended up being just enough to eat with the rice.
For this recipe I didn’t feel like baking the potatoes in the oven (should've, would’ve been faster), instead, I attempted to “stir-fry” them. I glazed both the potatoes and onion bits with olive oil and added about 1-2 tbsp of butter, and tossed them around on high heat.
Then this is where the salsa verde gets its moment. After the water has evaporated from the rice and it’s well cooked, pour in salsa verde. You might want to turn the heat up a little bit and stir the salsa in to ensure it's fully mixed. Also, for more taste, I added bits of rotisserie chicken to it.
After a few minutes, that’s it. You can now add everything together, and it makes for a nice dinner. Although this dish doesn’t have any lemon added, it tastes just as acidic because of the tomatillo. The turmeric and russet add an earthy flavor. The onion and garlic add an umami taste. As for the chicken, it doesn’t do much but adds a different texture. So all in all, I recommend this to anyone who’s looking to try something new.
The dish was, in the words of my Mom and Sister: Savory, tangy, garlicky, salty, sweet, and tasty. 10/10.