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