Not your every day beans and rice
It may not be all vegetarians eat, but for some of us, it is a staple of our diets.
Personally, I love beans and rice. Until I decided to stop eating meat, I used to eat chicken and yellow rice at least a couple of times a week.
Steve has not always been such a fan. He likes black beans and rice once in a while. He likes chickebn abnd yellow rice on occasion. Red beans and rice is fine as long as it's got some ground beef and pork in it.
So, I decided to play around with the flavors and colors a little to see what I could come up with to challenge his tastebuds.
What I came up with was Red Beans and Yellow Rice...with some snappy additional flavors.
He gobbled it up as a part of a larger meal so I will assume he liked it and that you will too.
Red Beans and Yellow Rice
3/4 teaspoon of ground turmeric 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin
A of pinch of cinnamon
3 cups water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-4 cups of cooked rice
1 large bell pepper
1 medium onion
5-6 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 can of dark red kidney beans
- In a medium saucepan, heat the turmeric, cumin, and cinnamon over low heat until fragrant, stirring, about 30 seconds. Add the water, salt, and butter and bring to a boil. Add the rice and stir well. Cover and reduce heat to a bare simmer.
- Cook, covered, without stirring until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, without stirring, for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
- Meanwhile, put the bell pepper, onion and garlic into a blender and blend until it's nearly liquified. Put it in a fry pan with a bit of olive oil spray. It will sizzle and pop a bit.
- When the sizzling fades, add the red beans, the red pepper flakes and a little water and simmer for at least a half hour.
- Mix in with the rice and serve.
