I think the category of ‘bean and rice’ would encompass almost 90% of the meals that I cook and I do not complain at all. Rather, I rejoice it and am thankful for the pantry full of different beans and pulses. All it takes is some overnight soaking, which is hardly labor-intensive. If you forget that, you can always go for split lentils and pulses. Having a pressure cooker further reduces the cooking time. So no wonder that I keep making it. Plus, there is such a diversity of flavor profiles across different cooking cultures. For example, same staples that I used this time for a Mexican bean-rice bowl, can be used for making Indian rajma-chawal. You just need to pick the flavor of the day, and then choose the spices and condiments accordingly. So today, we go South…
RED BEANS IN TOMATO & CILANTRO-LIME RICE
Ingredients:
For red beans in tomato:
1 cup dried red/ kidney beans
3-4 tomatoes
1 onion
1-2 teaspoons of chili powder
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon cumin powder
2 tablespoon of crushed dried oregano herb
Salt to taste
2-3 tablespoons oil
Water
For cilantro-lime rice:
1 cup rice
1-2 cloves of garlic
2-4 green chili peppers (depends on your liking)
Bunch of cilantro
Lime juice to taste
Salt to taste
Method:
For read beans in tomato:
- Wash and soak the beans overnight.
- Cook the beans with enough water till beans are cooked tender, but not mushy. The water in which beans are cooked can be later used as the stock in this prep. So save it 🙂
- In pot, heat oil, and fry chopped garlic till fragrant.
- Add thinly chopped onion to it and sauté till it turns translucent.
- Add cumin powder and chili powder to the onion. Sauté for a minute and two and add cooked beans and mix properly.
- Make a puree of tomatoes and add it to the beans pot along with salt and oregano.
- Once the tomatoes loose their raw flavor, you can add the beans stock that we had save earlier and some more water, based on the desired consistency.
- Let the beans simmer on low-medium heat for 5-10 more minutes and then take off the stove.
For cilantro-lime rice:
- Wash and cook rice per instruction.
- Thinly chop green chili peppers and garlic cloves. Further grind them to coarse consistency in mortar and pestle, with some salt, lime juice, and half of cilantro.
- Mix this paste with cooked rice.
- Adjust salt and lime juice to your liking and serve with adding some more chopped cilantro.
Take in a bowl and dig in 🙂