Puerto Rican Style Rice & Beans
Puerto Rican Style Rice & Beans
* Serves 4-6 * Ingredients
2 cups - large diced russet potatoes
1/2 cup - diced yellow onion
1/4 cup - diced carrot
1/4 cup - diced green bell pepper
1/4 cup - finely chopped cilantro stems
2 tbsp - minced garlic
1 tsp - tomato paste
2 tbsp - soy sauce
2 cups - vegetable stock
2 cans - black beans
1/2 tbsp - adobo seasoning
1 packet - sazon seasoning
2 bay leaves
1/2 tbsp - dried oregano
1/2 tsp - paprika
1 tbsp - garlic powder
a pinch of black pepper
1/4 cup - salsa ( optional ) I like the Newman’s brand
2 tbsp - lime juice
1/4 cup - chopped cilantro leaves
Sides
My favorite way to eat black beans is over some white rice and with some sliced avocado on top and with some tostones or maduros on the side - truly amazing !
If you are wondering, Tostones are fried and smashed plantains that are so so good, especially with a sprinkle of salt and lime juice on top. Funny enough maduros are also plantains but the difference is in the ripeness of the plantain. To make crispy tostones you would have to pick a green plantain and to make maduros you would need a more ripe / brown looking plantain.
Instructions
Step 1 - Gather all ingredients & chop the veg
There is nothing worse than going to make something and realizing you don’t have the stuff ! Mise en place all your ingredients and start chopping all the vegetables to make the cooking process easier later. Start by dicing large chunks of potato and then cutting the onion, green bell pepper and carrot into similar sized diced pieces. The last things to chop are some minced garlic and some cilantro stems and all of this together will be a sort of base or “sofrito” for the beans. I love adding potatoes to my beans as it really thickens the beans and I really love me some thick beansss but feel free to omit if that isn’t your thing.
Step 2 - Saute Time
In a large pot on medium/high heat, pour in some oil for sauteing. I like to use grapeseed oil because its a bit better for you and has a high smoke point so its great for high heat cooking.
The first thing that goes in the pot is the potatoes and I let those get golden brown before I add in the onion, green bell pepper and carrots. Saute all of that until everything is golden brown, then add in the garlic and cilantro stems. I start with potatoes first since they take the longest to cook and then follow up with the rest of the veg. Stir around for maybe 2 minutes before bringing the heat down to medium and then pouring over some soy sauce and stirring everything well. I know some of you may be wondering why soy sauce ? Feel free to omit however I think it really adds a ton of umami here and because I am not using a chicken or meat broth, I think the soy sauce really helps provide a depth in flavor.
After about a minute or 2 of sautéing everything in the soy sauce, add a touch of tomato paste and quickly sauté everything to combine well before sort of deglazing the pan with 2 cups of warm vegetable stock. Give that a good stir and let everything come to a simmer. This is the step where a lot of the flavors are building just before we build upon that by adding in the black beans. After adding in the beans to the pot its time to season everything so the beans can really take in flavor.
Step 3 - Seasoning
Once the beans have started to simmer back up again its time to add in the seasonings. I like to start by dropping in the bay leaves followed by the adobo, sazon, oregano and paprika. Then stir everything really well to allow the spices to mingle with everything else in the pot. I like to add a bit of some chunky salsa to my black beans, this is optional and maybe a little untraditional but I really like the extra texture and flavor it brings to the beans.
The last stages of seasoning and or finishing of the beans is the adding of the lime juice and chopped cilantro.
It is very popular to use vinegar in beans instead of lime or lemon juice so you do you, I am just really a fan of the flavor the lime brings to the beans. I like to share what I find is the more traditional route along with where I have strayed so you can play around and find what suits your palette better !
Step 4 - Plate !
Black beans is commonly served with white rice and sometimes even yellow rice along with sides like tostones, maduros, and some sliced avocado. I plated mine over some white rice with a very simple marinated tofu, sliced avocado with some fresh tostones on the side with cilantro generously sprinkled over the top.
You can of course enjoy right away and enjoy for left overs. I typically like to make this in a big batch to enjoy throughout the week as it does make for great meal prep/left overs. The beans are always better the second day as the beans thicken a bit more and the flavors develop just a bit more making them just better the next day. Id say its safe to say both the rice and beans can last for 5 days in the fridge if they have been stored properly.
Comment down below if I should include a recipe and or instructions for the rice or anything else that I didn’t mention here !
