My Tia Mari's Arroz
When my mom reads this, she is going to be very upset with me. However, my favorite rice in the entire world is made by my Tia Mari. When you go to a Cuban restaurant and order a side of rice, it has this shine to it that is impossible to perfect with just water and rice. My Tia Mari's rice has the perfect proportion of butter to rice ratio. It has the shine of a regular restaurant's rice combined with the salty rich taste of butter. And who doesn't love butter? Julia Child may have been French, but she was on point with her butter philosophy.
The reason it is so important to perfect a rice recipe is because it goes well with any meal. Rice absorbs sauce and mixes well with any kind of meat. You can live on arroz and frijoles negros alone. If you're not Cuban, and you don't understand the hoopla about rice, here's an analogy to help understand: rice is for Cubans what potato is to the Irish.
In order to cook rice, I highly recommend using a rice cooker, sometimes called a hitachi. Rice cookers are sold at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a great price, and they have a smaller one that makes up to 3 cups of rice, which is really all a college student needs.
In order to cook the rice, you'll need white rice (duh), butter, salt, and garlic powder (optional). It is important to use the measuring cup that comes with the rice cooker, because sometimes it's a bit smaller than a regular measuring cup (either that, or it's a Cuban wives' tale that I fell for).
For every cup of rice you're trying to make, put that many cups of water plus one extra cup. If you're making 1 cup of rice, pour 2 cups of water. If you're making 3 cups of rice, pour 4 cups of water. If you're making 1/2 cup of rice, pour 1 1/2 cups of water. Next comes the butter. For every cup of rice, use 2 tablespoons of butter. Add just a sprinkle of salt and garlic powder. If your butter is salted, you don't want to overdo it with the salt. If you're using a rice cooker similar to mine, your task is done as soon as you plug in the rice cooker into the electrical socket, and press down so that the red "cook" light is on. Wait 20-30 minutes and you'll have my Tia Mari's delicious rice ready to eat. ¡Distfruta el sabroso arrocito!
