Puerto Rican Rice and Beans

adapted from More with Less' Puerto Rican Rice and Pigeon Peas

Serves 8 (main dish servings)
Soaking time: 8 hours • Passive cooking time: 2 hours • Active cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 lb. dried pigeon peas, pinto, or kidney beans
4 cups water
3/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup fat
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups cabbage, finely chopped
1 tsp. oregano
1 tblsp. capers with juice
1 tblsp. salt
2 cups uncooked rice (I used short grain brown)
6 cups bean liquid and water


Steps:

1. Sort through the dry beans, rinse with cold water, and cover with an inch of water. Let soak for 8 hours until rehydrated. After rehydrating, drain and rinse the beans. Return to a large pot and cover with 4 cups water.

2. Bring to a boil, skim off foam, and let simmer for an hour to an hour and a half, stirring occasionally. At this point, beans should be quite tender. Drain beans and set aside, reserving the remaining bean liquid.

3. Saute vegetables in 1/4 cup fat (I used olive oil). When veggies are tender, add tomato paste, spices, rice, and liquid. Stir well.

4. Cook at moderate heat 15 minutes. Stir. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until most of liquid is absorbed and rice is fully cooked (approximately 25 minutes).

Notes: All I can say about this recipe is: DELICIOUS! This recipe makes a lot of food. We have been eating it for lunch and dinner for days and I'm still not sick of it. It's strange, because it's so similar to other recipes we've made, but this one really is the best. I highly recommend it!

Mexican Beans and Rice

adapted from Rice of Life's Mexican Rice and Beans

Serves 4 (main dish servings)
Soaking time: 8 hours • Passive cooking time: 2 hours • Active cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 red onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 cups dried pinto beans, sorted, rinsed, and soaked
2 cups brown rice
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
cilantro, chopped
wedge of lime
1/2 avocado, sliced
salt to taste


Steps:

1. Sort through the dry beans, rinse with cold water, and cover with an inch of water. Let soak for 8 hours until rehydrated. After rehydrating, drain and rinse the beans. Return to a large pot and cover with 6 cups water.

2. Bring to a boil, skim off foam, and let simmer for an hour to an hour and a half, stirring occasionally. At this point, beans should be quite tender.

3. Saute onion in a little bit of oil until soft. Add green bell peppers and saute until soft. Add pinto beans, spices, and tomato sauce. Stir until everything is well mixed and there is a nice sauce for the beans. If necessary add small amounts of water to thin the sauce (in 1/4 cup increments). Add salt to taste and adjust spices, as necessary.

4. Serve over brown rice. Garnish with cilantro, lime wedge, and avocado.

Notes: This recipe sort of tasted to me like what pinto beans and mexican rice would taste like if you mixed them together. Very comforting and easy. We served them with tortillas on the side.

Nicaraguan Rice and Beans

adapted from the International Vegetarian Union's Nicaraguan Rice and Beans

Serves 6, or 4 "hearty" appetites
Soaking time: at least 4 hours • Passive cooking time: 2 hours •
Active cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup dried pinto beans
1 bay leaf
1 small onion, peeled
1 clove
2 garlic cloves, peeled
salt to taste
1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
fresh black pepper

Steps:

1. Sort through the dried beans and remove any dirt, rocks, or beans with holes. Rinse the dried beans in a colander.
Cover the beans with water in a large pot and let soak at least 4 hours.

2. At this point, the beans should be mostly reconstituted. Drain the beans and place in a large pot with 2 quarts of water.
Add the bay leaf, the whole onion, the clove, and 2 peeled garlic cloves. Gradually bring the beans to a boil, and skim off foam that forms. Reduce heat, and simmer beans uncovered until tender, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.


3. Check that beans are tender, and drain beans and rinse with cold water. Discard the onion, bay leaf, clove, and garlic.

4. About 20 minutes before beans are set to be finished, bring 2.5 cups water and 1/2 tsp. salt to a boil in a large saucepan. Add rice and return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and let rice simmer, about 18 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit uncovered 5 minutes. Fluff with fork.

5. About 5 minutes before rice and beans are set to be finished, chop the onion and heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onion and brown, approximately 5 minutes. Add rice and beans, and cook until rice starts to brown. Serve in bowls, and add fresh cracked pepper on top.




Notes: This recipe is long on time, but short on active cooking, which I appreciate. On this blog, we will be prioritizing dried beans and this is a perfect recipe to start with as the beans derive much of their flavor from the seasoning in the pot during the long simmer phase. You could actually taste the clove flavor in the beans! In the future, I would probably reduce the oil during the final saute. We added a little Tapatio to our bowls for an extra kick of spice.

Historical context: In Nicaragua, this dish is called Gallo Pinto, and is the "national dish". When the rice and beans are cooked together, the rice takes on some of the color of the beans resulting in a speckled appearance. Gallo Pinto translated means "mottled rooster", which is similar to the speckled beans and rice. Variations exist in almost all Central and South American countries, and we plan to explore each of those in other recipes.