There are a lot of copycat recipes for Chipotle's chili lime rice. I often wondered how it was made and assumed there was cilantro and maybe some lime in it. I've looked up recipes by wonderful cooks who suggest adding a bay leaf to the rice when it cooks, who suggest using basmati rice instead of long grain (which is what Chipotle seems to use). One recipe even suggests using two parts lime juice and one part lemon juice (used on 2 cups of cooked rice). Lots of rinsing, etc.
This summer I saw the line chef make the white rice. Twice! She made two batches so I watched her like a hawk. She dumped the hot rice (which did not seem wet, which did not seem like it had been rinsed) into a big metal bowl, added oil, added a decent amount of what looked like kosher salt or salt, cilantro and lime. If I were going to guess, she was mixing about 3-4 cups worth of cooked rice with
1/3 cup olive oil
1-2 T kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
FRESH limes, maybe two hole ones for this much rice.
She tossed it all together pretty seriously for a minute or two. Then she shouted "RICE READY" and everyone said "THANK YOU!!!" to her. That was nice, even if it was their corporate policy to say those things, probably.
*
I do not have a lime, my lime died RIP.
So I made basmati rice and put in olive oil, kosher salt and chopped cilantro. Definitely the lime is missing, but this was pretty great. Has a good consistency and flavor and takes up my black beans well.
I did go to a mexican restaurant in a small town and it was so awesome, carrot and sweet potato and green pepper hash and so on. And then there was a bunch of sides but the lime cilantro rice was parboiled brown rice that had gotten hard. :-(
