Santana's Southwestern Stir Fry

I'm cooking a few things from Backstage Pass: Catering To Music's Biggest Stars, and today it's the Southwestern Stir-Fry on page 162. It was made for Carlos Santana at a show near San Diego. It's a hot and spicy dish, and I should have known better.

I'm an admitted wimp when it comes to heat. If the recipe calls for a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper, I sprinkle an itty bitty bit because even a quarter teaspoon is usually too much. As a co-worker says, "I'm a delicate flower."

I figured I'd tone the heat of the dish down and be good to go for a scrumptious dinner. First, though, I had to mix up some chili powder. This is an easy spice mix to make:

1 part paprika (I used a smoked paprika)
2 parts cumin
1 part cayenne
1 part oregano
2 parts garlic powder

Mix it up and you've got about a quarter cup of chili powder made to suit your heat tastes.

Then I prepped the vegetables. Like most stir-frys I could see that this one would go very fast once I started putting things into the heat. The red onion, carrot, and red pepper were chopped in no time. I didn't have any zucchini, baby corn, or tomato; instead I used some spinach and (gasp) canned corn.

I put the water on to boil for the rice, and turned the heat on the burner for the stir-fry. I thought about using a regular olive oil, then turned to the Persian Lime Olive Oil given to me for Christmas. I pulled the top off the bottle and breathed in the olive and lime flavor - and into the pan it went to heat up.

The rice went into the water, the top went on the pan, and I pulled it off the burner to sit for the short amount of time it would take to heat up the stir-fry. Yeah, I did use Minute Rice. Sue me.

I added the garlic and spices to the hot pan and stirred for a little bit.

The smell was fabulous - that lime with the flavors of cumin, oregano, paprika, and cayenne. I wasn't worried, I could control the sense of heat with no problem.

Then I dropped in the julienned carrot and red pepper along with some red onion and shook the pan around. The aroma finally hit my nose - and I coughed. I really am that sensitive to heat because the combination of spices was getting to me.

I sauteed the vegetables until they were wilted a little and added the spinach and corn. These also were shook in the pan until wilted and warmed.

By then the rice was water logged, literally swimming in water. Apparently I'd added the wrong amount of water. I got out a slotted spoon and ladled some rice onto a bright yellow plate then added the spicy vegetables. Goat cheese and sliced almonds were added - and boy, did it look good!

Unfortunately, it was much too spicy for me. I did have several mouthfuls, but couldn't hack eating the rest because the flavors were too intense.  I can say that the veggies were cooked just right and, I might make the recipe again - with significantly less cayenne pepper. Anybody want some Southwestern Stir Fry?