Rice with Beans and Lentils
Cooking Skills: Rice 2
Chapter 7 · Rice with Beans and Lentils
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The basics
Rice and beans (or lentils) is one of the great food partnerships. Together, the two supply all the protein building blocks your body needs, they are cheap, filling and high in fibre, and they appear in nearly every cuisine. Many of these dishes are healthy by default.
| Dish | Where from | How the rice and beans meet |
|---|---|---|
| Rice and peas | Jamaica | Rice cooked in the same pot as the beans and coconut milk |
| Mujaddara | Middle East | Lentils and rice cooked together, topped with browned onions |
| Red rice | Mexico | Rice toasted in oil, then cooked in tomato; served with beans |
| Black beans and rice | Cuba | Beans simmered separately, served over plain rice |
Two ways to combine them: cook the rice in the beans' liquid (rice and peas, mujaddara), so it takes on all their flavour, or cook them separately and serve together (black beans and rice), so each keeps its own texture.
Try it
Rice and peas
In Jamaica "peas" means beans, usually red kidney beans. They cook in coconut milk with thyme and spring onion, then the rice is added to the same pot and absorbs everything.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 150 g long-grain white rice
- 400 g tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 200 ml light coconut milk
- 130 ml water
- 2 spring onions, bruised with the flat of a knife
- 2 thyme sprigs
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- 1 whole scotch bonnet or mild chilli (optional, do not burst)
- ½ tsp salt
- Put the beans, coconut milk, water, spring onions, thyme, garlic, allspice, chilli and salt in a medium pan with a lid. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
- Rinse the rice and stir it in. Bring back to the boil, stir once, then cover and cook on the lowest heat for 20 minutes, without lifting the lid.
- Turn off the heat and rest, covered, for 10 minutes. Remove the thyme stalks, spring onions and chilli, and fluff with a fork.
Mujaddara (lentils, rice and crisp onions)
A Middle Eastern dish of lentils and rice, crowned with deeply browned onions. The onions are the star and take patience.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 100 g green or brown lentils
- 100 g long-grain rice
- 450 ml water
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 large onions (about 300 g), thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp oil
- 3 tbsp natural yoghurt, to serve
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-low heat. Cook the onions with a pinch of salt for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring regularly, until deep brown and crisp at the edges. Don't rush them.
- While they cook, put the lentils, cumin and water in a pan, bring to the boil, then simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.
- Add the rinsed rice and salt, stir once, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes. Rest, covered, for 10 minutes.
- Fluff, pile on a plate, and top with the browned onions and the yoghurt. If the pan looks dry before the rice is tender, add 3 tablespoons of hot water.
Mexican-style red rice
The rice is browned in oil before the tomato goes in, which keeps it separate and gives it a nutty depth.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 150 g long-grain white rice
- 1 tbsp oil
- ½ small onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 200 ml tomato passata
- 150 ml hot reduced-salt stock
- 80 g frozen peas and diced carrot
- Rinse the rice and drain it very well. Heat the oil in a pan with a lid and add the rice. Stir for 4 to 5 minutes until pale golden.
- Add the onion, garlic and cumin and stir for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the passata and hot stock, add the vegetables and a pinch of salt, and stir once. Bring to the boil, cover, and cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes.
- Rest, covered, for 10 minutes and fluff.
Cuban-style black beans and rice
Beans get their flavour from a base of onion, pepper and garlic, simmered until some of the beans break down and thicken the liquid. Serve them over plain rice.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 1 tin black beans (400 g), with their liquid
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- ½ green pepper, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- 100 ml water
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar or lime juice
- 150 g long-grain white rice, boiled as in Cooking Skills: Rice 1, chapter 2
- Heat the oil and fry the onion and pepper for 8 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin and oregano for 1 minute.
- Add the beans with their liquid, the bay leaf and the water. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, mashing about a quarter of the beans against the side of the pan to thicken.
- Stir in the vinegar or lime juice, remove the bay leaf and taste for salt.
- Serve over the boiled rice.
Experiments
Tinned or dried beans
Is cooking dried beans worth the effort?
- Soak 100 g of dried black beans in plenty of cold water overnight. Drain, cover with fresh water and simmer for 60 to 90 minutes until completely soft.
- Make the Cuban black beans twice, once with the cooked dried beans (with 200 ml of their cooking liquid) and once with a tin.
- Compare the taste, texture and cost.
Look for: Home-cooked beans are firmer, taste better and are cheaper per portion, but they take time. Tins are fine for most weeknights. Do this with black beans only.
Together or separately
Does the rice need to cook in the beans?
- Make rice and peas as in the recipe. Then make a second batch where you cook the rice plainly in water, and warm the beans and coconut milk separately before mixing.
- Compare the flavour of the rice.
Look for: In the first batch the rice tastes of coconut, thyme and allspice all the way through. In the second the flavour sits on the surface.
Browned or just fried onions
How much do the onions matter in mujaddara?
- Cook one batch of onions for 8 minutes until soft and pale. Cook another for 30 minutes until deep brown.
- Taste each on the finished mujaddara.
Look for: The pale onions are sweet and soft, the deeply browned ones are crisp, bitter-sweet and smoky. Most people find the long cook transforms the dish.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rice and peas | ||||
| Mujaddara | ||||
| Mexican red rice | ||||
| Cuban black beans and rice | ||||
| Tinned vs dried beans | ||||
| Together vs separate | ||||
| Pale vs browned onions |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Rice crunchy | Too little liquid or the lid lifted | Add 3 tablespoons of hot water, cover and cook 5 more minutes |
| Rice mushy | Too much liquid, or stirred | Measure; stir once at most |
| Beans stay hard (dried) | Old beans or not simmered long enough | Keep simmering; add salt only at the end |
| Onions burn rather than brown | Heat too high | Medium-low heat, stir often, add a splash of water if sticking |
| Bland | Not enough seasoning | Finish with lime juice or vinegar and taste for salt |
| Too hot | Burst chilli | Remove the chilli whole; don't cut it |
- I can cook rice in the liquid from beans or lentils.
- I can brown onions slowly for mujaddara.
- I can toast rice before adding tomato.
- I know the safe way to cook dried kidney beans.
- I can combine rice and beans for a cheap, healthy meal.