Legumes & Grass Seed

Red, white, black, green, pink, pinto, cranberry, azuki, navy, black-eyed, fava, great northern, chick, pigeon...

Long, medium or short grain, brown, white, jasmine, Japanese black, Thai sticky, Bhutanese red, purple, basmati...

Rice has been cultivated for some 12,000 years. Beans a mere 4000 years. Inevitably these two nutritional powerhouses came together to form a multitude of variations on a theme. Rice is rich in starch, an excellent source of energy. Rice also contains iron, vitamin B, and protein. Beans also have a good amount of iron, and an even more protein than rice. Together they make a “complete protein” that contains adequate proportions of all nine essential amino acids that the human body cannot make for itself.

Wild rice is not a true rice. Rather it's the grain of a North American marsh grass unrelated to Asian/Indian rices.

Nearly every culture has some version of Legumes & Grass Seed. Usually these are dishes “of the people”, not haute cuisine -- inexpensive and filling. Some cultures serve the two side by side, others combine them near the end, with or without other ingredients, for a one-pot dish. Rice and beans are common and affordable ingredients, available even in the most in difficult of times. With sack of dried beans, a sack of rice, and a handful of spices, you can make delicious, nutritious, healthy dishes in nearly infinite variety.

So this week I thought I'd share an old favorite and a new favorite take on Legumes & Grass Seed.  The first is a Latin American dish of uncertain origin but certainly popular in Puerto Rico and Cuba.

Arroz Amarillo con Habichuelas Negras

In English it would be Yellow Rice with Black Beans. In the mid-West where I grew up they call this Spanish Rice, and ignore the beans. An alternative Latin name is Moros y Christianos (Moors and Christians) with the beans representing the Moors.  The name of the dish even appears in a Latin inspired hip hop piece called What's That, by the artist Mos Def:

You know my stilo, cigarrillo con tamarindo
Habichuelas negras, arroz amarillo
Yo soy suave viejito, campeَn nacional como Tito

1 to 1½ cups dried Black Beans

½ cup diced Sweet Onion

1 Tbsp dried Thyme

1 cup uncooked Rice of choice (I like Jasmine)

1 Sazon Tropicale spice packet “para aroz amarillo”(I prefer Badia brand)

1 tsp Cumin

4 sq inches Red Bell Pepper, diced

Thyme goes with beans – any kind of beans – like peanut butter goes with jelly.  One of those quintessential flavor combinations that simply can't be ignored.  If you don't add thyme to your beans as they cook, you're really missing something.

Urban Myth has it that you must soak dried beans overnight, changing the water several times. Bologna (and I don't mean the good kind)!! That, and the so-called benefits from doing so, have been disproven any number of times by “scientist chefs” like Alton Brown. Cooking times between soaked and unsoaked are nearly identical, and any anti-gas benefits simply cannot be measured.

So. Rinse the beans, checking visually to make sure you don't have any black bean-sized rocks in there. Place in a pot well covered with water, according to package directions. Add the thyme, stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer and cook until tender but not mushy. Drain and reserve. When cool, toss with the diced onion.

Meanwhile, put the cup of rice and two cups of water in another pot, along with the Sazon Tropicale spice and the cumin. Stir to dissolve the spices. Bring that to a boil, covered, reduce heat to low and cook for 20-25 minutes until the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat, fluffy the rice with a fork and toss with the diced red bell pepper.

Plate any way you choose. Some like to keep the elements separate on the plate. Some put down a bed of rice and ladle beans on top. I had some at a restaurant the other day that were other way around -- pureed beans on the bottom and the rice on top.  Some like to pack the rice into one side of a bowl and spoon the beans in along side.

Here's my photo of my version of the recipe. All the other food bloggers who talk about the dish seem to be using the same photo from one person's blog. Don't just talk about dishes, you guys, cook them and photograph them!!

Bajan Peas & Rice

Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic also love their Pigeon Peas and Rice. But since last week we made a batch of Bajan Seasoning from the recipe I provided, this week we're making the Bajan version which used Pigeon Peas.

Here in the States you'll probably only find canned pigeon peas except at an ethnic Caribbean market. Canned pigeon peas come in two varieties – green and dry. The canned dry peas aren't really dry... more like 'reconstituted'. They're canned in water, and ready to eat. This recipe is really simple (but you do need to be able to boil water). It's the seasoning that really makes this recipe great!

1 can (15 oz) “dry” Pigeon Peas (or green ones if you can't find the other)

1-½ cups dry White Rice of choice

2 Tbsp Bajan Seasoning, or more, to taste

½ tsp Cumin

Cook up the rice as usual, adding the Bajan seasoning and cumin before things come to a boil. Drain and rinse the pigeon peas. Microwave the pigeon peas to bring them up to eating temperature (call it 2 minutes).  If you use a rice cooker you can add them to the rice just as cooking finishes and allow them to warm through while the rest of your meal finishes cooking.

Combine the rice and the peas. Serve with a ramekin of Bajan seasoning on the table to take the spice level to your comfort level.

  

Here's a dish of Rice & Peas made by a Bajan chef, which Lady Sally and I sampled at a post-wedding party at a rental house on Barbados.  This chef uses just a pinch of turmeric to color the rice.

Sunset view from a rental property east of Holetown, Barbados

Bunny Salad & Bajan Seasoning

Bunny Salad
So we got back from Barbados on Wednesday and Lady Sally goes off to work on Thursday. Mid-day, I get an email from her “There's an Easter-themed lunch tomorrow, can you fix something?”

Well, of course I can fix something. But I want something special, right? So after bit of data-mining, I found a recipe for an Easter Bunny Pear Salad. Shades of Watership Down!  Pear halves decorated to look like browsing rabbits on a bed of greens. Perfect! 

Don't do what I did! Do not go out and buy two large cans of Pear Halves. The cans lie! They do not contain complete halves, but rather the 'neck' parts are chopped off and stuffed in with the rest. You simply can't make bunny-looking goodies with canned pears. Go buy fresh, whole pears and poach them yourself in a covered skillet. It's easy, fast, and fun.

Peel the pears and halve them lengthwise. Place cut side down in a deep skillet with a lid. Add water to cover the pears. 

Now doctor that 'courtbouillion'.  Start with a cup of sugar. Now add fresh grated nutmeg, whole cloves, whole allspice berries, star anise, cardamon – whatever you like to flavor the sugar water. Bring the liquid to a bare boil. 

Cut a disk of parchment paper and lay it on top the pears to help keep them submerged (un-submerged parts will turn color).  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the pears are soft-but-firm, if you know what I mean. 

Speaking of colors... If I'd thought about it, I'd have used red or blue berry juice, or grape juice, or red wine instead of water. The pear bunnies would have soaked up the flavor and color as they poached! Remove pears from the liquid and let them cool, drain, and dry for say an hour before proceeding.

Other things you'll need – whole cloves for noses, slivered almonds for ears, dried currants or very small raisins for eyes, and either small curd cottage cheese (my preference), Greek yogurt, or something similar for the fluffy tails. A bag of Spring Mix lettuces, chopped, for a bed. I also used tiny snack carrots and parsley bits to make bunny-sized nibbles.

Lay down the chopped lettuce, then arrange the pear halves. Add ears, eyes, and noses, using a small knife and/or skewer tip to prepare slits and holes for the detail bits Add dollops of cottage cheese or whatever for the tails. Decorate with tiny snack carrots, if desired.  I also like dusting the bunnies with freshly grated nutmeg.

The keys, IMHO, to making these look like rabbits rather than mice, are that the ears have to face sideways, not forward; and the tails have to be white and fluffy rather than a string of limp spagetti or something curled around!

Watership Down Salad

Bajan Delights

“Bah-zhan” or Bay-zhan” – the pronunciation seems to vary with age.  The older natives abbreviating the formal term “Barbadian” to “Bay-zhan”.

Funny -- the one thing we didn't see there were Barbados Cherry bushes, fruit or products. 

Lovely island, fantastically blue seas. Wonderous “caverns measureless to man...” and collapsed caves which have formed steep-sided jungle-filled Gullies including feral-native green monkeys, nutmeg forests, and giant bamboo. The stone carved lion memorial at Gun Hill Station is worth the trip both for the statue and the views from the top of the island. If you ever get the chance to visit this tropical paradise, be sure to schedule time away from the beaches for a visit to Harrison's Cave and Welshman's Gully.

View across the island from from Gun Hill Station.

See what happens when you're in a foreign place with too much time on your hands?

The food is pretty darn good, too! In a week I managed to sample many of the island's traditional dishes including cou-cous, flying fish prepared several ways, tamarind balls, souse and pepperpot. I also managed to taste cassava pone, pickled cucumber, breadfruit and banana salad, fish cakes, coconut bread and a 'black cake' wedding cake covered in Bajan blue fondant.  Inside was traditional black cake (similar to a fruit cake but with minced, not diced or chopped fruit).  If you get the chance to go, do not miss the Brown Sugar Restaurant in Bridgetown.  They have a daily lunch buffet that features a lot of classic Bajan dishes:

Top:  Fish Cakes.  Left: Souse.  Right: Pickled Cucumber with breadfruit & banana.  Bottom: Pepperpot beef.

Many of the Bajan dishes border on bland. It's the endemic Bajan Seasoning and Bajan Hot Sauce that give dishes like Pigeon Peas & Rice their distinctive flavors. If you're very lucky your local megamart or Caribbean ethnic market will carry Delish(tm) brand Bajan Seasoning. Chances aren't too good in that department though. So before I take you any further on this Bajan Food Odyssey, you'll need to make a batch of Bajan Seasoning.

This stuff is a lot like a pesto. Everybody's grandmother has her own family secret recipe. A dollop is added to many many dishes as an all around seasoning. That dollop can range from mild to 'rip yer face off' hot depending on how much of what kind of peppers you include. Here's a recipe for a mild version:

Bajan Seasoning

3 bunches of green onions/shallots, coarsely chopped

1 scallion, sliced

1 garlic clove

1/2 small jalapeno, seeded and chopped. Use more jalapeno or a Scotch Bonnet for hotter flavor.

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon fresh marjoram leaves

1 pinch ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1-2 tablespoons cider or mild white vinegar

Fresh basil, parsley and a tiny bit of fresh dill are optional additions. If you use them, add a bit more vinegar.  For "sissy mild" substitute about 3 square inches of minced green bell pepper or cubano pepper.  For "very mild" use the same amount of green poblano pepper.

In a food processor, combine shallots, scallion, garlic, jalapeno, ginger, thyme, marjoram, cloves, salt, and pepper. Pulse to mince. Add vinegar and pulse until all ingredients are finely minced and vinegar is well distributed. Bajan seasoning should have a paste-like consistency.

A little data-mining may garner you on-line sources for both Bajan Seasoning (get Delish or other pesto-like product, not dried spices) and Bajan Hot Sauce (an intense Scotch Bonnet pepper concoction).

When Is A Cherry Not A Cherry?

When it's a Barbados Cherry (Malpighia emarginata) otherwise known as Acerola, West Indian Cherry, or wild Crepe Myrtle.

 Actual size of fruit about 3/4".

 Sure looks like a cherry, doesn't it?  Doesn't quite taste like a cherry though.  Barbados Cherry has its own unique tart flavor.

Barbados Cherry is an evergreen  bush/small tree native to Central and South America and southern Mexico, and is grown as far north as Texas, and of course here in Florida as far north as Cape Canaveral.  It's also grown in sundry parts of Asia and India.

The fruit can get as large as 1" in diameter, but is generally half that.  They are juicy, but the "pulp to pit" ratio is lower than a real cherry -- that is more pip and less pulp.  Each fruit has two or three pips or seeds.  Barbados is very high in Vitamin C -- each berry contains an entire day's dose of C, as well as a variety of antioxidant. Tart, not sweet, this is one healthy-for-you fruit!  

If you live in the growing area, you owe it to yourself to plant one of these neat bushes.  A 3 year old tree will cost $25-$30 and will start bearing fruit shortly after you plant it out.  Lady Sally and I planted one a couple years ago, and started getting fruit within a couple months.  Give them lots of sun and water.  Barbados Cherry are also popular as bonsai specimens because of the small leaves, pretty pink flowers, and of course the fruit.

Elsewhere Barbados Cherry fruit is made into juices, jams, pulps, Vit. C concentrates and even baby food.  Here in the States you don't often see recipes for them, simply because Barbados Cherry aren't commercially grown for their fruit.  But they are a beautiful ornamental that fruits nearly year-around, and deserve better treatment than letting the fruit go to waste.  

Lady Sally and I keep a zip-top bag in the freezer, and as berries come ripe, we just pop them in the bag with the others.  When there's enough fruit to make something yummy, I thaw out the entire bag full.

Virtually every Barbados Cherry recipe begins with "simmer the fruit in a sugar and water solution..."   You've got to get those pips out, and that's the first stage.  I simmer them until they start to soften or 'pop' -- similar to making cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries.    Orange, clove and allspice go well with Barbados cherries as well as cranberries. How much sugar and water?  Start with two cups of water and a cup of sugar per two cups of whole fruit.  How long?  Call it fifteen minutes to start.

Once the berries are softened, the next step is removing the pips.  Rubber gloves aren't necessary, but they do help.  Put the cooked, cooled fruit in a large bowl, and have a ramekin or something to put the pips in.  Just start picking up the fruit and squeezing them, breaking the skins and separating the pips from the flesh. 

Sometime later... you'll have a couple quarts of cleaned fruit to work with.  At this point you can freeze the fruit for later use.  Or, taste them, add more sugar if needed, then serve warm over a nice vanilla ice cream or homemade short cake with cream.   

Or, you can bring some to a boil, add a packet of pectin, and make jam.

Or, best of all, IMHO, you can make a Barbados Cherry Pie.  Here's my recipe:

3 cups pitted Barbados Cherries, drained (save the liquid as a fabulous simple syrup)
1 cup sugar (you can use sugar substitutes as well)
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon each ground Allspice and Cloves
Butter

Combine the sugar, flour and spices, then fold in the fruit. Place  in a 9-inch unbaked pie crust. Dot with butter and put on a top crust (solid or lattice). Bake at 425F for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350F and bake another 30 minutes until browned.

I actually prefer tarts to pies - that is no top crust.  You get more fruity goodness and less pastry.  Use 4 or more cups of fruit to fill up the crust, with proportionally more flour and a bit more spice, to taste.

This is a 4 cup tart in a 9" crust.  I hate to waste things, so I re-rolled the crust trimmings and made the central mini-top.

This week's post is the perfect segue, as Lady Sally and I are off to the island of Barbados on Thursday, to attend a destination wedding.  So for the next couple weeks I'll regale you with recipes for real Bajan (not Barbadoan) cuisine.   I've been doing my homework.  The national dish is  cou-cou and flying fish.  Cou-cou is a sort of molded polenta -- cornmeal "mush" with fried okra -- served with fried or steamed fish.   That, and lots more to come!