Cajun Red Beans and Rice

adapted from the American Feast's Sustainable Food Blog Red Beans and Rice

Serves 6 (main dish servings)
Soaking time: 8 hours • Passive cooking time: 2 hours • Active cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 tsp liquid smoke
2 cups Dry Red Kidney Beans
3-4 Bay Leaves
2 Tablespoons Crisco Shortening or butter
6 Celery Stalks, Diced
1 Large Spanish Onion, Diced
1 Bunch Scallions, Diced
3 Green Peppers, Diced
1 Tablespoon Dried Thyme Leaves
3/4 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
Salt to Taste
2 Cups Uncle Ben's or Carolina Rice
3 Cups 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 6 cups water. Add liquid smoke and bay leaves.

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 celery, onion, and peppers in Crisco or butter until soft. Add to simmering beans. Add in remaining spices and let simmer an additional half hour.

4. While beans are simmering, bring 3 cups water and 2 cups white rice to a boil in a small saucepan.

5. When beans and rice have finished, serve 1 cup beans over a half cup of rice. Add salt as desired.

Notes: This recipe originally calls for simmering the beans with a ham hock. As we eat largely vegetarian, I omitted that step, and instead included the teaspoon of liquid smoke. This recipe comes out a little spicy from the cayenne and pepper, so if you are sensitive to spice, consider using less.

Historical context: Red beans and rice is a staple of Cajun cooking. Doing the research for the recipe, I learned that Cajun territory encompasses Louisiana south of US Highway 190 and west of the Mississippi River, while Creole is considered the New Orleans area specifically. This recipe features the "Cajun trinity" of onion, bell pepper, and celery. These three items are the base seasoning mixture for most recipes such as gumbos, jambalayas, etouffees, sauces, chili and stews.

Crockpot Egyptian Lentils and Rice

adapted from the International Vegetarian Union's Egyptian Lentils and Rice

Serves 6 (main dish servings)
Soaking time: none • Passive cooking time: 8 hours on low, 4 on high • Active cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup brown lentils
4 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 cup rice (I used short grain white rice)
5-6 cups water or homemade vegetable stock


Steps:

1. Measure the olive oil into the bottom of the crock pot, making sure to coat the bottom. Turn the crock pot on the highest setting and add onions. Allow onions to warm up and get soft in the oil, approximately 10 - 15 minutes.

2. Add all remaining ingredients, including water or stock.



3. If leaving the crock pot going all day, turn to low and cook for 8 hours. If you want it done quicker, cook for 4 hours on high. Stir once an hour, if possible.


Notes: Start with 5 cups of water or stock. You can always add more if the recipe is too thick. This recipe called for 1 tsp of salt, which I would omit next time around since I used chicken stock (which is often salty).

I love crock pot recipes. There is just something about throwing a bunch of ingredients in a cylinder and then coming home to dinner when you get home from work. This is the first beans and rice recipe I've made in the crock pot and I will definitely be doing so again. It's so easy and creates a hearty dish for dinner or lunches. We served ours with some tortillas, but I think it would be great with pita bread or naan or similar leavened flatbread.

Historical context: Egyptian cuisine is a rich and varied blend of Mediterranean and Middle East flavors. Lentils are extremely popular in Egyptian dishes, and this dish is no exception. Egypt receives very little rainfall, and must depend on crops that can grow in desert like conditions, or in the Nile's flood plains. This recipe is similar to the Egyptian dish, Koushari, which contains lentils, rice, macaroni, and chickpeas in a tomato sauce. (I'm sure I will be trying that recipe out as well.)

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.