Arroz Mexicano

One of the travel hacks we’d planned on executing on our arrival in Mexico City last month was to almost-immediately head out on a food tour. We reasoned that this would accelerate our familiarity with the local food scene, and get us more comfortable shopping for groceries, especially local ingredients.

One thing led to another, led to another, led to another, and we ended up not doing this (instead we figured things out on our own, which mostly worked, albeit anchored in more expensive full-on grocery stores like Walmart Express, where prices were as high as—or even higher than—we were used to at home).

Two weeks in, as our time in the city was drawing to a close, we pivoted to taking a cooking class instead.

We did a lot of hunting around websites like Airbnb, Viator and other tour aggregators, eventually opting for Modern Mexican Cooking Class with Authors Mariana and Geraldine, which had the advantages of being held an easy 15 minute walk from our home, well-reviewed, and and private (if not inexpensive).

It turned out to be a wonderful experience: Mariana and Geraldine were engaging hosts; Geraldine’s home in San Angel was an lovely oasis; the lunch we cooked together had just the right mix of hands-on and demonstration.

The highlight for me was learning to make Arroz Mexicano (Mexican Rice), the basics of which I captured in my sketch book:

I made this at home last night for the first time, and I was very, very happy with the result: the rice was perfectly tender, and had a nice kick.

I was aided greatly in preparing both the rice, and the tortillas I made to accompany it, by the opening of Tienda Latina Los Abuelos in Charlottetown while we were away, in Kirkwood Mews: I picked up a tortilla press, corn flour, and some morita chipotles there.

The magic elements of the process are:

• soaking the rice in boiling water first, then rinsing,
• frying the rice before adding liquid,
• being very patient (twice as patient as you think you should be) for the liquid to boil down.

Lisa and I enjoyed a tasty meal of tortillas, rice, beans, and guacamole last night for supper.