6 Layered Fusion Mexican Rice Dish

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6 Layered Fusion Mexican Rice Dish

6 layered Mexican Rice Dish is a flavourful fusion dish that is insanely delish. It makes the perfect side dish or dinner for your Mexican food night!

At my home, we enjoy fusion food and I always cook food according to the palate of my family invariably changing ingredients to suit the taste or to suit my cooking techniques. Fusion food is a form of cooking that combines different culinary traditions, techniques, ingredients, spices into a single dish. I love fusion cooking! It creates magic in the kitchen and allows experimentation and freedom in exploring a contrast of flavours and textures.

6 layered Mexican Rice Dish combines pantry staples with fresh vegetables for that rich, cheesy Mexican sensation. Thanks to main ingredients that are often on hand at home – rice, vegetables, beans and cheese – this recipe is the pinnacle of easy healthy comfort food. Using Indian spices, herbs and ingredients like red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander leaves and paneer bring an element of fusion to this delicious, layered rice.

My family love this Mexican layered rice and I usually make this on lazy weekends as it doesn’t take long to cook but I can also use up all the leftover vegetables in the fridge. Some dishes have added benefits, and this is one of those dishes. It is flavourful, relies on classic Mexican flavours, but with a healthy spin.

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Ingredients

For The Mexican Rice
2 cups long grain rice
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon oil
2 teaspoons grated/minced garlic
1 cup finely chopped onions
½ cup deseeded finely chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons finely chopped red pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped yellow pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped green pepper
½ cup boiled kidney beans (rajma)
½ cup boiled sweet corn kernels
1 cup tomato puree
2 tablespoons small cut baby corns
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons red chilli flakes
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons red chilli powder
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves

For The Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon grated/minced garlic
1 teaspoon finely chopped green chillies
¼ cup diced onions
¼ cup diagonally cut baby corns
¼ cup diced cut yellow peppers
¼ cup diced cut green peppers
¼ cup diced cut red peppers
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon red chilli flakes
2 teaspoons red chilli powder
1 cup tomato puree
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves
200 gm paneer (1 inch long, 1 cm thick pieces)

For The Cheese Sauce
1 cup Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons milk
A pinch of turmeric powder

For Assembling
200-250 grams salted/plain tortilla chips

Directions

Step-1

Wash the rice under running water at least 2-3 times and soak the rice in 2-3 cups of water for about an hour.

In a pan boil 4-5 cups of water. Once the water is boiling add the soaked rice. Add 1 teaspoon of oil and boil the rice on medium heat for around 6-7 minutes or until the rice is al dente. Drain the excess water and strain the rice. Keep the rice aside to cool down.

Step-2

For the Mexican rice heat the butter and oil in a pan and add the garlic and onions. Sauté them on medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until the onions turn translucent.

Next add the tomatoes, green, red, yellow peppers, kidney beans and corn and sauté them for a couple of minutes.

Step-3

After that, add the tomato puree, coriander leaves oregano, chilli flakes, salt, black pepper, red chili powder and rice and mix gently.

Turn off the heat and keep it aside.

Step-4

For the Sauce heat the butter and oil in a pan and add garlic and green chillies and sauté for a minute. After a minute, add the onions, baby corns, green pepper, red pepper and yellow pepper and sauté on medium heat for 1-2 minutes.

Step-5

Next add oregano, salt, red chilli powder, red chili flakes, black pepper and tomato puree and cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes.

Step-6

Add the finely chopped coriander leaves and paneer pieces to the sauce and gently mix. Turn off the heat and keep it aside.

Step-7

For the cheese sauce gently heat up the grated cheese, milk and turmeric powder on low heat until the cheese is melted.

Step-8

To assemble layer a serving dish with the Mexican rice. Then, using a small cup/bowl make a hole in the center and fill it with the sauce.

Layer the rice and sauce with crushed tortilla chips.

Finally, gently spread another later of rice, nachos and top with melted cheese sauce.

Serve hot with melted cheese sauce and left-over Sauce.

Tips & Variations

I would highly recommend choosing the best quality long grain rice for this recipe. You can also use brown rice, or Spanish rice.
It is particularly important to prepare the rice well which means rinsing the rice at least three times till the water is clear. This helps to clear the excess starch and will make the rice non sticky.
I always recommend soaking the rice for an hour or if you are short of time then at least for 20 to 25 minutes because well soaked rice will expand and cook well, and each strand of rice will be long and fluffy.
Let the rice cool down after boiling before you sauté it with the vegetables as that way rice won’t break.
The rice needs exceptionally light hand while mixing at the end.
Always add oil while heating butter so that the butter is not burned.
Cook the vegetables until they are al dente which means that the vegetables are partially cooked almost 75%.
I have used cheddar cheese for preparing cheese sauce. You can use other cheese also like mozzarella cheese, processed cheese etc.
You can use canned beans and sweetcorn for this recipe.
Other vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, beans work well too in this recipe. Instead of paneer one can use tofu.