Mexican Rice

We were making the shrimp and chorizo this weekend and I had been looking for a suitable rice accompaniment for some time. My Sept/Oct Cook's Illustrated issue arrived just in time with this lifesaver.
It is an excellent recipe and would be good with almost any spicy dish or as a spicy side to plainish BBQ'd chicken.

Mexican Rice
This recipe served 4 nicely as a side dish.

2 Medium ripe tomato (about 6 ounces) cored and quartered
1 medium onion (white or yellow), peeled, quartered.
2 jalepeno chillies (1 extra if you want it for garnish as well)
1 cup of long grain white rice
about 1/4 cup of canola oil
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 cup, low sodium chicken broth (buy the free range organic if you can)
1 TBS tomato paste
about 1tsp salt
1/2 cup minced cilantro leaves
1 lime cut into wedges for serving

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 350F.
Process tomato and onion in food processor or blender until smooth, scrape down bowl if necessary. You are looking for this to measure 1 cup of liquid ingredient when done, if it isn't 1 full cup, use broth to make up the difference or better yet, use more fresh tomato.

Remove the ribs and seeds form 2 of the jalepenos, mince the flesh and set aside. (If using one jalepeno to pass around as garnish and heat, mince the third WITH the seed and ribs).
Place the rice in a large fine mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear. Shake it to remove excess water..

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed, oven-safe 12-inch straight sided pan or a dutch oven with a tight fitting lid over medium-high heat (If you have neither, use a regular sauté pan or frying pan and transfer to a covered oven safe dish later) for 1 - 2 minutes. Drop in 3 -4 grains of rice in the oil. if the grains sizzle, the oil is ready. Add rice and fry, stirring frequently until it starts to turn a bit golden. Be careful not to burn. Takes about 6 or 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, add the garlic and the seeded jalepenos; cook, stirring constantly until fragrant about 2 minutes. Stir in the puréed tomatoes and onions, the chicken broth, tomato paste and salt; increase the heat to medium-high and bring this to a boil. At this stage either cover the pan and move it to the oven or transfer to the lidded oven safe dish. Bake until liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender about 30 - 35 minutes. Stir the dish thoroughly after 15 minutes.

Since this dish was served to some who didn't want cilantro nor the hotter jalepenos, I passed a dish around with the cilantro, limes and extra jalepeno. At the minimum, squirt a good amount of lime juice over the rice.