It took me several days to accomplish the beans and rice, but in the end it was easy to do, and easy to eat.
I started with 2 cups of dried kidney beans, which I soaked during the day on Tuesday, intending to cook them that evening. Life got in the way. They soaked (in the fridge) until Wednesday evening. While cooking something else to eat that night, I drained off the soaking water, covered them with water again and cooked them until they were soft – even after the soaking it took about an hour. Life again got in the way, and the cooked beans sat in my fridge until tonight – Friday evening. I only needed half of those beans, so half went into the freezer for another time. Next time I cook dried beans, I’ll cook a lot more while I’m at it and freeze them for the convenience later. By now, I had beans that were quite similar to canned kidney beans, so if you want to start with canned ones, I don’t see a big problem there.
I used this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/rice–beans-haitian-style/Detail.aspx The recipe calls for optional adobo seasoning. I didn’t know what that was, but found a recipe that’s easy to mix up if you have the ingredients already: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tracis-adobo-seasoning/detail.aspx My store also didn’t have the required scotch bonnet chile pepper. I substituted a couple little habenero peppers. Since you remove the pepper after cooking, it doesn’t contribute any fire that I could notice. I used the shallot the recipe called for, but you could substitute onion.
Some Haitian beans and rice recipes use coconut milk – this one didn’t. I’d like to try that sometime. This one has 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves in it, which I liked, and would probably add more of next time.
I served this with sliced avocado and naan (just to mix the cultures a wee bit!) I also reheated some left-over chicken in case my man was missing his meat, but neither of us touched it.
Red Beans and Rice
Served with avocado and naan
4ways7days 