I love Dirty Rice. Like so many others, I always used the pre-packaged box stuff, because who has the time or the energy to make your own, right? Then, one day I just did it. I made my own Dirty Rice, and the pre-packaged box stuff has never been invited back into my home again.
Look at all that goodness. It’s like a party in your mouth when all those flavors hit your tongue. This recipe comes together pretty quickly and doesn’t really cost a whole lot to make. It’s a win-win-win. It’s homemade, really good, and pretty cheap.
The time-consuming part of this recipe to me is chopping/dicing all the vegetables. I’m kind of attached to my fingertips. I dice a small onion, a quarter of both red and green bell peppers, and thinly slice two stalks of celery, leaves included. I add a pound of burger meat to a skillet and let it be cooking while I heat up a tablespoon or two of olive oil in another skillet to sauté my onion and bell peppers in. You can save a little time and put them in with the meat, but I like them sauteed by themselves first. It’s a texture thing.
While the vegetables are sauteing in the olive oil, I get two cups of chicken broth ready and dice up enough fresh garlic to make a teaspoon. After the diced garlic has sat for a few minutes and has had time to release all the good for you stuff it has, I add it to the skillet with the vegetables and stir it around just until that wonderful garlic smell hits you.
When your meat is done cooking and no longer pink, drain it if needed, and add it to the skillet with the vegetables. Mix in the celery, the chicken broth, one-half to one teaspoon of salt, one-half teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper, and one-half teaspoon chopped parsley. I just use the dried stuff.
Add in one cup of long grain enriched white rice. Don’t use the instant stuff. Make sure it’s long grain. Mix this up good, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes on medium-low heat until the water is dissolved. No peeking! Leave the lid on for at least the first 15 minutes. I leave the lid on the whole time. When the 20 minutes is up, remove from heat and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
Stir it up really good because the rice settles to the bottom, serve it up and enjoy. Pair it with Mexican Cornbread, or just eat it by itself. It’s good stuff. What about you? What do you put in your Dirty Rice?
Dirty Rice
Equipment
- 1 Skillet/frying pan for burger meat
- 1 Skillet/frying pan for sauteing
- 1 Skillet lid
- 1 Measuring cup for rice
- 1 spatula for meat
- 1 stirring spoon
- 1 Knife for dicing/chopping
- 1 pot for chicken broth if using bouillon cubes or soup base
Ingredients
- 1 pound hamburger meat
- 2 cups water
- 2 tsp chicken soup base or 2 chicken bouillon cubes
- 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
- 1 small onion diced
- 1/4 med green bell pepper diced/chopped
- 1/4 med red bell pepper diced/chopped
- 2 stalks celery sliced thin
- 1/2-1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp chopped garlic
- 1/2 tsp parsley, chopped fresh or dried
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
Instructions
- Dice the onion, red and green bell peppers, and slice the celery. Set aside.
- Add the burger to one of the skillets and let it be cooking.
- While the burger is cooking, add a tablespoon of olive oil to the other skillet and sauté the onion and bell peppers. You can skip this step if you just want to add them in with the burger meat.
- Dice enough fresh garlic to make one teaspoon and let it sit while the onion and peppers are sauteing.
- Place 2 cups of water in a pot and add the soup base or chicken bouillon and heat until dissolved.
- Add the garlic to the onion and peppers and sauté for 30 seconds to a minute, just long enough to really smell the garlic.
- Drain the meat, if needed, and add to the veggies. Mix in the celery, and broth, the spices, and the rice. Stir well.
- Cover and let simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, until the water is dissolved.
- Remove from heat. Let sit for 5 minutes, stir and serve.