Cuban-style black beans and rice

Cuban-style black beans and rice

Serves

4 servings

Prep

15 min

Cook

35 min

Total

50 min

Equipment. 3 quart saucepan with a tight lid, Large skillet or second pot

Ingredients

Rice

• 300 g (1.5 cups) long-grain white rice
• 540 ml (2.25 cups) water
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp olive oil

Sofrito

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced small (about 150 g)
• 1 green bell pepper, diced small
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf

Beans

• 2 cans (425 g / 15 oz each) black beans, with their liquid
• 120 ml (1/2 cup) water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar or white vinegar
• Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

For the table

• Thin-sliced raw onion
• Olive oil
• Hot sauce

Method

1. Rinse the rice in a strainer until the water runs mostly clear. That washes off loose starch so the grains stay separate.
2. Put the rice, 540 ml water, salt and 1 tsp oil in the saucepan. Bring to a boil, stir once, cover, and turn the heat to the lowest setting. Cook 18 minutes without lifting the lid, then take it off the heat and leave it covered 10 more minutes.
3. While the rice cooks, heat 3 tbsp oil in the skillet over medium. Add the onion and pepper with a pinch of salt and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and starting to turn gold at the edges. If they brown fast, turn the heat down. Burnt sofrito tastes bitter all the way through the pot.
4. Add the garlic, cumin, oregano and bay leaf. Stir 1 minute, until the garlic smells sweet. Do not let it brown.
5. Pour in both cans of beans with their liquid, plus 120 ml water and the sugar. Simmer, stirring now and then, 15 to 20 minutes. Mash a ladle of beans against the side of the pan to thicken the pot.
6. Stir in the vinegar. Taste, then salt and pepper. Canned beans vary a lot in salt, so season at the end, not the start. The beans should be loose enough to run a little on the rice. Add a splash of water if they got too thick.
7. Fish out the bay leaf. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve the beans over it, with raw onion, a drizzle of olive oil and hot sauce on the table.

What goes wrong

• Gummy rice: you skipped the rinse, lifted the lid, or stirred it while it cooked. Leave it alone.
• Burnt bottom on the rice: the low setting on your stove is not low enough. Next time slide a heat diffuser or a second burner grate under the pan.
• Flat beans: the sofrito was rushed. Ten minutes on the onion and pepper is where the flavor comes from.
• Too salty: some canned beans come heavily salted. Buy low-sodium cans if you can and salt it yourself.

Variations

• Use dried beans: soak 450 g overnight, simmer in fresh water until tender, and use them with 360 ml of their cooking liquid in place of the cans.
• Add a smoked ham hock or diced bacon to the sofrito for a pork version. Cook bacon until it is browned and crisp before adding the vegetables.
• Stir the finished beans and rice together with a little of the bean liquid for a weeknight take on congri.

What to drink

Water with lime, or a cold lager.