Iron Rations is an irregular column about eating well and eating frugally. You can read more articles in the series here. To subscribe to a Iron Rations-only RSS feed, click here.
The main reason I started this series was to address the many people who tell me that they don’t know how to cook. Not that they don’t have time to cook (which is an entirely different excuse), but that they very simply cannot do it because they don’t know how. The implication is that they’re incapable of learning. With all of the cookbooks and cooking shows in the world, they still believe that cooking is an arcane skillset that requires a complicated set of techniques that take years to learn. Which, of course, is bunk.
Today I’m going to explain how to make cilantro lime rice. It’s a big thing at a popular fast-casual restaurant, and people (including myself) ooh and aah over it. There is nothing arcane or complex about making it. It’s very versatile and goes very well with burritos and other Mexican food, but it also pairs well with fish, chicken, and Indian food. The ingredients are cheap — key limes are 10 for $1 right now at my regular grocery story, and 4 for $1 at the fancy organic gourmet grocer. A bundle of fresh cilantro is 50 cents at the regular store, and still under a buck at the snooty grocer.
This recipe is for one cup of rice, which serves 2 people. Multiply as needed.
1 cup rice
1 key lime
1 bunch fresh cilantro
First, start your rice cooking. I prefer a rice cooker, but it doesn’t matter if you’re boiling it or making instant rice. While the rice is cooking, get out a mixing bowl, cut up the lime, and squeeze it into the bowl. Get out a cutting board, take some of the cilantro from the bundle, and start chopping it up. You don’t need technique. Just hack it into little pieces. If they’re not all of equal size, it doesn’t matter. Stems too, not just the leaves, use it all. You want about 1/4 cup, more or less to taste. Throw the hacked cilantro in the bowl with the lime juice.
When the rice is cooked, drain as needed (another reason I like to use a rice cooker, no draining required), dump it in the bowl and mix thoroughly. You’re done. Eat it right away, or put it into containers and pop it in the fridge to use later (within a few days at most, though). Neither a lot of time nor any special techniques required, and you have yummy rice.
