Spanish Rice #2 in the Instant Pot

In figuring out this recipe, I learned that some people make a distinction between Spanish rice and Mexican rice. They say Mexican rice has cumin and Spanish rice has saffron. Just so you know, I don't make that distinction. You can call this recipe Spanish rice or Mexican rice but it has a bit of New Mexico in it.

My original recipe is better as it uses fresh veggies and takes way too much work to make it. This is my quick recipe that's really good on its own. It uses an Instant Pot pressure cooker to speed things up a bit over my original recipe.

Serves 6-8 (approx 2 cups total)

A 3 qt Instant pot can make a double recipe

A 6 qt instant pot can make a 4x recipe (which is a lot of rice)

Add to a skillet and brown the rice. Be sure to keep it moving around the skillet so it doesn't burn::

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 cup basmati long grain rice

Cook until the rice is translucent and starting to brown.

Create a spice mix and finely grind in a grinder. You should probably make it before you start any other parts. (This is enough for 4 recipes. Save the extra.) and, yes, you can use ground spices:

• 4 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp mexican oregano flakes
• 2 tsp caldo de tomate boullion
• 1 tsp whole cumin
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp celery flakes
• (optional) 1 tsp cayenne to make it spicy. I don't do this if my friends are coming over.

While the rice is cooking, turn on the instant pot, set to to sauté and add:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion chopped (about 3/4 cup)

Sauté until translucent create an opening in the center of the pot and toast for about 1 minute:

• 1 Tbsp of the spice mix

When it smells wonderful add one and only one of these options:

OPTION 1 (my favorite):

• 2 Tbsp tomato paste (its not a bad idea to sauté this a bit before you add the water. Keep stirring)
• 1 1/4 cup water
• splash of wine (any color dry-ish wine)

OPTION 2:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup diced tomatoes
• splash of wine

OPTION 3:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce (this needs to be tested more)
• splash of wine
• 1 tsp vegetable base (or chicken or beef) optional

Stir well. Heat the liquid until its almost to boiling. It is not terribly important except it shouldn’t be cold. I've found that my Instant Pot will start to simmer it and that's when its ready to go on.

Add the browned rice to the tomato liquid. Stir well.

Turn off the instant pot so it no longer does sauté heat.

Set the instant pot for 6:00 minutes, high pressure cook and secure the lid.

When the 6 minutes is up let the heat release naturally for exactly 10 minutes. Do not let the stem out until the time is up. Do not remove the lid. After the 10 minutes, let the pressure release and then remove the lid.

Once the pressure dissapates. Remove the lid. Stir in:

• 3/4 cup V8 original vegetable juice
• (optional) 1 small can chopped green chile for that New Mexico taste

Let stand covered for 5 minutes and serve. Its done.