Four-Layer Baked Mexican Rice

imageAn absolute show stopper dish, that makes a complete meal by itself! Layers of flavored rice, spicy potato, tangy salsa and melting cheese, all come together in complete harmony in this delicious Mexican creation!
Inspiration: Tarla Dalal
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Make it as the central dish for your next Mexican Fiesta or as delicious personal serving TV Dinners for the family, this dish is sure to please! 🙂
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Method:
For the rice layer…
Chop onions and jalapeños
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Chop cauliflower
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Chop colorful peppers
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Chop garlic (I had fresh green garlic, but you can use regular garlic cloves too)
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Cook rice with a little butter and salt…spread to cool.
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Defrost frozen corn
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Now heat butter + oil and add garlic, onions and jalapeños. Cook till translucent.
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Add cauliflower and cook for 2 minutes.
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Add the peppers and cook for another 2 minutes.
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Add the corn and cook till heated through.
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Add salt, red chili pwdr, cumin pwdr and oregano.
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Add the cooked rice. Gently mix to combine.
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Taste rice and adjust seasoning if needed.
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For the potato layer,…
Boil and mash potatoes. Add salt, red chili pwdr, ground cumin and oregano along with some minced jalapeño and freshly chopped cilanto. Form into thick round tikkis.
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Dust them lightly with some cornflour.
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Cook till crisp on both sides.
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For the cooked salsa layer…
Heat oil, add minced garlic and finely chopped onions. Sauté till transparent. Add puréed tomato along with salt, red chili pwdr, cumin pwdr, oregano and some sugar/tomato sauce. Cook to reduce. Add 2tsp cornflour mixed in some water.
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Cook for another 2 minutes….transfer to a bowl
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For the cheese layer…
Grate some cheddar cheese. Also Chop some spring onion.
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Assembly:
Spread rice in a baking dish.
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Press lightly to compress.
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Top with the alu tikkis.
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Spread the cooked salsa on top the alu tikkis to completely cover.
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Sprinkle a generous layer of grated cheese. Top with some chopped spring onion.
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Bake in a 350F oven till golden from top…about 25-30 minutes. serve warm!
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While serving take care to include all 4 layers…in each portion!
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Here you see it served along side a portion of baked Bean Burrito….
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Sit back and watch…how fast it disappears….:-)
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3 Comments

  1. it looks nice. But if you don’t make the bean burrito, wouldn’t it be just carbs and no real protiens? I would recommend that you add salsa, but not so much, but you can add beans layer to it to make it a complete meal.

  2. I made the cutlets with left over black eyed peas sabji and they tasted yumm…thanks for the recipe . Love your blog!