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Maria's Mexican Rice

"My mom is from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico and this is how she has been making rice all her life. One day I finally stopped and measured the amounts she used while cooking. In my view this is the perfect Mexican rice. It's not too greasy or dry, nice color, and great flavor. The Serrano pepper will add flavor but no heat to this recipe since it is used whole and not chopped. If you would like spicy Mexican rice, de-seed and chop the Serrano before adding it to the mix."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Maria's Mexican Rice

Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Maria's Mexican Rice

6 servings
Prep10 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

570Calories
38 gProtein
18 gFat
62 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Cumin + tomatotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,272 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Rice + chickentop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Olive + cumintop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,853 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Onion + cumintop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,498 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, rice, cumin, pepper, tomato, sauce, chicken):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, rice, cumin, pepper, tomato, sauce, chicken. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.