This recipe for Vegetable Beef & Rice Soup (“Carne Picada con Arroz”) combines fresh vegetables, rice, beef, and a nutritious broth, all in one scrumptious bowl! It’s easy to prepare in stages if you’re running short on time, and the leftovers freeze well to enjoy later. Both convenient and delicious, this recipe is perfect for a weekday family dinner.

Vegetable Beef & Rice Soup

My passion for food has taken me all throughout Mexico in search for the best food made with “home-style flavor”, which is how we refer to food habitually prepared in the households of Mexican families, which later become traditions, many of which are later taken by restaurants and offered to tourists.

Among these dishes, we find soups, stews, and “antojitos” (street food), which are served in generous portions, easily replicable, and simple to prepare. It was in the Pino Suárez Market, in the city of Villahermosa (capital of the state of Tabasco), that I found this dish: “Carne Picada con Arroz” (Chopped Beef with Rice, and vegetables).

This Vegetable Meat and Rice recipe have been shared by María Inés Muñoz.

Tabasco is a tropical state located in the Gulf of Mexico, with high humidity and temperatures surpassing 35º degrees Celsius, or 95º degrees Fahrenheit. Due to this extreme climate, the life for the inhabitants of this region starts very early (around 5 am), in order to take advantage of the fresh morning air. They finish their chores as soon as possible, so as to return home and enjoy a hearty breakfast, such as this home-style dish (which can also be enjoyed for lunch or dinner).

In Tabasco, it is common for local products, like beef and vegetables, to be consumed at restaurants, family tables, and at eateries located inside the markets. Surrounded by one-third of the country’s freshwater, this delta in the Gulf of Mexico is bounteous when it comes to making soup-based stews.

Beef & Rice Soup from Tabasco.

This stew is a variant of Caldo de Res (Beef Soup), a dish of European origins but with a strong Mexican rooting. When we immerse ourselves into the cuisine of Tabasco, we must keep in mind that many of its traditions are the result of a rich mixture of the Spaniard, French, and Mayan cuisines. The land that today forms Tabasco witnessed ferocious battles against the French invaders in 1863.

The proud French army of Napoleon III was defeated until the following year, 1864, although much of their defeat is attributed to the extremely hot weather, which was a determining factor in the surrender of the French legions before the Mexican army. It was from this fusion of cultures, that condiments like thyme were introduced to Mexico, and began to be used in local cooking.

This recipe of “Carne Picada con Arroz” (Chopped Beef with Rice) can be compared to that of “Puchero” (also called "Caldo de Res”), but it is made with a mix of condiments and ingredients that are used in Tabasco in a particular way: “oreganón” and “Perejil criollo” (creole parsley). For this recipe, in order to achieve a final result similar to that of the originals, we suggest you use other condiments: dried oregano and parsley.

Oreganón Tabasqueño, an oregano plant from Tabasco.

The original “oreganón” (Lippia graveolens) is highly used in the cuisines of Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan, and the south of Veracruz. It is a plant that grows in tropical forests, but grows much better in rocky soil. It was classified as “yerba dulce de México” (Mexico’s sweet herb) by Mr. Miguel Colmeiro, a Spanish botanist. It gives a pleasant taste to any broth, as well as fish and other seafood. It is worth noting it has been called the “Mexican oregano”, and has medicinal use in treating colic, colds, and gastrointestinal problems.

Creole Parsley (“Perejil criollo”), or “ranchero” parsley (Eryngium foetidum), is also a plant of regular use in southeastern cuisine, due to it having a deeper and more intense flavor than regular flat-leaf parsley. It’s long and serrated leaves are preferred for aromatizing soups, and it is commonly grown in small spaces for household use. This plant is also known as “foreign culantro” (“culantro extranjero”), for its origins in Africa and Asia. Its wealth of nutrients includes vitamins A, B1, B2, and C, as well as riboflavin, carotenes, calcium, and iron; it is also used as an appetite stimulant.

Ingredients for Vegetable Beef & Rice Soup

This recipe for Chopped Beef with Rice is very simple and easy to make. If you wish, you can make it in steps—first cooking the beef and storing it in its broth to prepare later—or make the whole recipe at once.

How to make Chopped Beef with Rice

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Directions:

Place the meat and the bones in a large pot along with 1 garlic clove, one half of the onion, 2 peppercorns, 3 bay leaves, and salt to taste. Fill the pot with eight cups of water and cook on high heat until it reaches boiling point. After the water starts to boil, reduce the heat to low and keep cooking for 30 minutes, or until the meat is soft.
Once the meat has been cooked, remove it from the pot and cut it into small cubes. It has to be very finely chopped. Remove the marrow from the bones and mix it into the chopped beef.
Strain the broth from the pot in order to remove the remains of the onion and other condiments. Return the broth to the same pot, and add the chopped beef with marrow.

In order to prepare the “sofrito”, dice the tomatoes, green pepper (with seeds removed), garlic clove, and remaining half of the onion. Heat the two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a medium pan and add the diced ingredients to fry. Add a couple of tablespoons of the beef broth to the pan and continue to cook for 10 minutes.
Add this “sofrito” to your blender along with the thyme and oregano. Blend until you have a fine and homogeneous mixture, then pour into the pot with the beef broth (you do not need to strain it).
Place the pot with the beef and broth over high heat once more, adding the parsley and oregano. Once it starts boiling, add the corn and cook for 10 minutes. After this, add the chopped chayotes and cook for 5 more minutes. Finally, add the rice and let it boil for 6 more minutes, then turn the heat off.
Remove the pot from the heat and set it aside, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Keep in mind that the heat of the broth will continue to cook the rice. After this time has passed, it is ready to serve.

If you have leftovers of this Chopped Vegetable Beef with Rice Soup, you can freeze it to reheat later. In the case that you want to reheat it on the stove, remember to not let it boil for too long, in order to avoid overcooking the rice.

Vegetable Beef & Rice Soup