Great recipe made EXACTLY the same way as my Mexican American wife and her mother and her abuela makes it. And we make this at least once a week, but we increase the recipe to 24 servings, since we are serving 18 people every night.
Due to the large amount, we toast the rice in three pans instead of just one, and she adds ground achiote powder also known as annatto to the pans while the rice is cooking to give it that rich deep color. Even deeper than tomato sauce alone.
Add in fresh cilantro from our herb garden and it's perfect. And it's very rare that we have leftovers, that's why we make 24 servings.
