Chilies and Cheese Rice

Mix some California green chilies, fluffy rice, gooey Monterey, and what do you get? An easy cheesy peasy rice dinner. I tweaked the recipe and turned this chili and cheese rice dish into rice cakes with an ingenious hack, baking it in a jumbo-sized cupcake pan.  A comforting dish made simple for any mealtime, whether on a relaxing rainy Sunday afternoon or getting in the door late from a progressive day of work or school.  This recipe is an explosion of flavors that pops with a well-elevated amount of heat on the palette, between the gooey grated Monterey cheese and tangy acidity from the rich creaminess of the sour cream. You'll have a home-cooked meal that is as perfect as any cuisine served by a Michelin star Chef.   You could pair it with sauteed sweet pork sausage, grilled steak, baked chops, creamy avocado, or heck a shoe, lol. Just kidding about that shoe, but seriously, you'll have a happy, fulfilled tummy-especially if you enjoy spicy meals without the additional heartburn as dessert.   

• Difficulty: Easy
• Category: Appetizer, Lunch, Sides, Supper
• Cuisine: American
• Cooking Method: Bake, Mix it up, Simmer

Ingredients

• cup cooked rice (long grain white rice)
• 1 cup green chilies (seeded, dried, and small diced)
• 1 1/3 cup sour cream
• 2 cup grated monterey jack cheese (or; blend of colby cheese with other choice of cheeses)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 ֯degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine cooked rice, finely chopped green chilies that have been seeded and dried, sour cream, and 1/2 a cup (or to your liking) cup of grated cheese.
3. Grease a medium-sized casserole pan with butter or oil for those rice cakes, a jumbo-sized cupcake pan.
4. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the rice mix into the cupcake pan, and press down with a spatula. Add remain cheese on top and bake for twenty minutes. Or, spoon into a baking pan the rice cheese mixture and bake until cheese is bubbly.