Black Beans and Rice
One pot. Pantry spices. Under eight dollars for six servings. Serves 6
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup long grain white rice
- 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed, or 3 cups cooked black beans
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- Salt and pepper
- Cilantro and lime to finish
Instructions
Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and red bell pepper and cook until soft and just starting to brown at the edges, about eight minutes. Take your time here. This step is where the flavor comes from.
Add garlic, cumin, oregano, smoked paprika, and bay leaf. Stir for one minute until it smells like something.
Add the rice and stir to coat it in the oil and spices, about one more minute.
Add the beans and the broth. Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer eighteen minutes without lifting the lid.
Take off the heat and let it sit covered for another ten minutes. Discard the bay leaf.
Stir in the vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste.
Finish with chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime.
Notes
If you cooked your beans, swap half a cup of the broth for their cooking liquid. That liquid is full of starch and flavor, and it gives the pot more body than broth alone.
Brown rice works. Use two and a half cups of liquid and simmer forty-five minutes.
The vinegar is not optional. It wakes up everything else in the pot.
