Don't Need Much Money is exactly what it sounds like: a site about needing less, so you have more. More time. More freedom. More room to actually live. The idea is simple. The less money you need to survive, the more time you have to thrive. Lower your living costs, live a healthy lifestyle focused on longevity and mobility, stay out of debt, and build a little savings, and you buy yourself something far more valuable than money: time. Time to do what you actually love, spend with people you care about, and put toward things that matter. This site is my own real life running that experiment. Most of what you'll find here are recipes and day-to-day habits. They aren't filler posts, it's intentional. Cooking from scratch, buying smart, wasting less, eating well, and staying healhty, fit, and limber all without spending much are some of the most direct ways I practice this philosophy day to day. This blog doubles as my own recipe box and exercise notes, and I share it b...
This is not authentic Mexican rice. Real Mexican rice uses a specific long grain white rice, fries it in oil first, then simmers it in a blended tomato sauce before adding the rest of the liquid. It's great technique that results in that signature fluffy texture, but it takes time and a blender.
What I am after is the taste more than anything, and this recipe replicates that without all the time and cleaning. Same flavor direction, a fraction of the effort. The trick is that almost any canned or jarred tomato product works as the liquid base as long as it's not spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce or those types of Italian flavors. I use whatever I already have sitting in the pantry or open in the fridge. And since I'm all for turning a single dish into a meal, I stir in beans or vegetables at the end to make it a full meal instead of a side dish.
This recipe uses my favorite rice, basmati brown rice, and make 2-3 servings. If using another type of brown rice, there should be no need to change any of the steps or ingredients. If using white rice like traditional long grain rice or even jasmine rice, reduce the water by 1/4 cup in each recipe. It also assumes you've prerinsed the rice and that it is wet. If it is dry, increase the water by 1/4 cup.
Base:
- 1 cup basmati brown rice prerinsed
- 2.25 cups liquid total (broth or water plus your tomato component, see below)
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin (optional)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
- ½ teaspoon onion powder (optional)
- Salt to taste (aim for 1/2 tsp equivalent and adjust if using salted tomato products or broth instead of water)
Pick one tomato component (adjust water to keep the total liquid at 2.25 cups):
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- ¾ to 1 cup tomato sauce
- ¾ to 1 cup V8 juice
- ¾ to 1 cup jarred red salsa (my favorite, since it already has onion, pepper, and spice built in)
Optional, to make it a full meal (add after the rice finishes cooking):
- 1 can black beans, drained, or a cup of precooked black beans
- 1 to 1 ½ cups frozen peas, corn, and carrots, thawed
Directions
- Wash the rice until the liquid runs clear.
- Add drained, wet rice and oil to a medium size pot.
- Add your liquid (water or broth plus whichever tomato component you picked), cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.
- Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes (20 minutes if using white rice).
- Remove from heat and let the rice sit covered for 10 more minutes.
- Remove the lid and stir in the drained beans or the thawed frozen vegetables. The residual heat warms them through in a couple minutes. No extra cooking step needed.
- Taste and adjust salt before serving.
A note on the tomato options: salsa gives the most complex flavor since it already has aromatics in it. Tomato paste is the most neutral and lets the cumin and garlic powder do more of the work. V8 adds a slightly different vegetable note than straight tomato. Use whatever's around That's the whole point of this recipe.
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