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Mexican Brown Rice

A seasoned brown rice dish with tomatoes, corn, and taco seasoning.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Mexican Brown Rice

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the rice

  1. Add the water to a large pot and bring to a boil.

  2. Add all the ingredients, except the corn.

  3. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until water has been absorbed into rice.

Rest and serve

  1. Let stand for 10 minutes and fluff with a fork.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

521Calories
10 gProtein
15 gFat
90 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 10 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Corn1/2 cup kernels (82g)77
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Waternot in our table0
Taconot in our table0
Fruitnot 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.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

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

  3. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Rice + corntop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Brown rice
Forms the bulk of the dish and gives a chewy, firm texture once the water is absorbed.
Chopped tomatoes with their juice
Add moisture and acidity, and the juice helps the rice cook as it absorbs liquid.
Olive oil
Adds fat for richer flavour and helps carry the seasonings through the rice.
Onion
Softens and turns sweeter as it cooks, adding aroma to the rice.

The step that matters

Simmering covered until the water is absorbed. Brown rice has a tough bran layer and needs a long, gentle simmer in trapped steam to cook through. Lifting the lid lets steam escape, and stopping too early leaves the grains firm and the liquid unevenly absorbed.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, tomato, sugar, corn, olive, garlic):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, tomato, sugar, corn, olive, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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