Recipe: Spanish Rice

Spanish Rice
rec.food.cooking/David Casseres
Serves 4-6

a variation on the theme of rice pilaf, and the basic idea is to fry the rice first in oil, then add liquid to boil/steam it. Here's my mother's recipe, which she learned in Costa Rica:

2 cups long grain white rice
4 cups salted water or chicken broth
1 medium-size ripe tomato, coarsely chopped
1 medium-size Spanish onion, sliced
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
4-6 Tbsp vegetable oil

Heat the oil over *high* heat in the bottom of a saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and stir. As soon as it threatens to brown, add the rice.

Stir constantly until most of the grains have changed from their original translucent whitish color to a brilliant, opaque white.

Remove from heat and immediately add the liquid and the tomato (careful, it will spatter). Stir once, and return to *very low* heat. Cover tightly.

After 10 minutes, stir once. Cover again and cook another 10-20 minutes.