Should state that while we enjoyed this greatly, we also changed it A LOT. My household doesn’t like green chili – so I took that out, added half an orange pepper, a couple of garlic cloves, 3 healthy pinches of cayenne, a few blops of paprika, and a sprinkling of turmeric. Still had the spicy, didn’t have the green chili.
1/4 c butter
1 c chopped onion
(1/2 green or red or orange pepper)
(2 cloves garlic, diced)
4 c freshly cooked white rice
2 c sour cream
1 c cream-style cottage cheese
1 large bay leaf, crumbled
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3 cans (4 oz) green chiles, drained and halved lengthwise, leaving seeds
2 c grated, sharp, Cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease 2 quart baking dish. Melt butter in a large skillet, saute the onion (and the garlic and the pepper, if doing our variant). Remove from heat. Stir in hot rice, sour cream, cottage cheese, bay leaf, salt, pepper, (and turmeric and cayenne and paprika, if using our variant.) Mix well. Layer half the rice mixture in the bottom of the baking dish, sprinkle with half the cheese. Repeat. Bake for 25 minutes, or until bubbly and hot.