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{Homegrown} Beans & Mexican Rice
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A staple nearly weekly in our kitchen is the mighty yet simple flavors of beans and rice. It really is the perfect food. It’s vegetarian, can be altered any number of ways to add flavor and texture, and the bean-grain combination is present in just about every culture as a staple of the cuisine.
This is a pretty traditional flavor, and can be made into many slightly different meals as leftovers. And if you tire of the beans as is, I’ve been known to transform them into chili later in the week.
The Mexican Rice recipe is another one of these pre-internet day recipes I found in a library book in Corvallis, Oregon (like my candy making recipes). I have modified it slightly, but this recipe is based on one from a Mexican cookbook we borrowed as graduate school newlyweds. It’s that quintessential rice you get with refried beans at Mexican restaurants and I’m convinced the oil used is a major part of how this rice tastes and cooks.
Classic Beans and Mexican Rice
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
3 hours
Total Time
15 minutes
Ingredients
For the Beans
- 8 ounces dry beans of your choice, about 1.5 cups
- 1 medium onion peeled but left whole
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1 dried chili of your choice (I usually use a medium hot pepper)
- 4 juniper berries
- Salt, near the end to taste
Mexican Rice
- 1 1/2 cups jasmine rice
- 1/2 cup stock (we use chicken broth)
- 1/2-1 cup tomato sauce (you can sub tomato powder for this and increase water)
- 1 medium onion, diced large (about 2/3 cup, though I never measure)
- 1 large clove garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp paprika (for color) (optional)
- 1/3 cup peanut oil (don’t use olive oil!)
- 3 cups broth
Instructions
- Sort and rinse your beans and set in a pot with at least 1” covering, overnight ideally. (See shortcut in Notes.)
- Next morning, rinse well several times. Add the rest of the ingredients except the salt and bring to a boil. Turn to low, let simmer for about 1-2 hours, depending on age of beans, stirring occasionally. Salt to taste when they have fully softened but still need a bit more time to cook.
- You’ll need to use a slotted spoon to fish out the juniper berries, onion, garlic, bay leaves, and pepper.
- Optional: Take about a cup of the cooked beans out and mash with a potato masher and return to the pot. This will yield more of a refried bean texture. We keep ours whole but that’s just our texture preference. Heck, you could mash them all up and add a little extra broth to get a really smooth texture.
- While the beans are cooking, bring your teapot to a boil and cover the rice in a 4 cup measuring cup or quart capacity container. Let stand for about 20 minutes. Drain and rinse well in cold water. Get as much water out as you can.
- Meanwhile, in your blender, add the 1/2 cup stock, small onion, garlic, tomato sauce, and optional paprika and blend until completely smooth. Set aside.
- In a large 12” skillet (or or your largest cooking pot), heat the peanut oil on medium high heat. I often also don’t measure this out precisely but I’m looking for a solid layer of oil throughout the bottom of the pan. Add the drained rice to this and fry, stirring frequently, until it glistens and has changed color. The original recipe says until gold in color, but I just go for a fully changed color and a light fry (they will look opaque when fried).
- Now you add the tomato puree to the pan and cook this over medium high heat for several minutes until it’s almost dry and big bubbles are popping through. This takes several minutes. Finally, add the 3 cups broth and cook over medium heat until the liquid is almost completely absorbed, 5-10 minutes.
- Cover and cook for 15 more minutes. Then turn it off . Don’t open it yet. Let stand for another 30 minutes to steam and soften. This rice takes about 75 minutes from start to finish, but, again, it’s totally worth the extra effort.
Notes
Bean Shortcut: Bring to a boil and turn off water. Let sit for about an hour. Rinse well and refill water to about 2” above the beans.
I don't measure my water for the beans but keep an eye on it and top off if/as needed.
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