This is a go to recipe for me and my family. My 2 year old asks for rice and beans just about on a weekly basis. It is healthy and nutritious and on rainy days it is the perfect comfort food for me. My favorite is that it is so easy to throw together.
Beans are so versatile, they can be made just as easily without meat, but i love the flavor that throwing a piece of meat in gives the beans. Traditionally ham hocks would be used, but I usually use smoked pork bones for this, but I have also used leftover pot roast, fresh bacon and beef bones. Really any meat will give the beans a great depth of flavor.
The only thing I would be careful of when deciding what meat to use, make sure that if there are bones, to get the bones out before serving. Or at least let everyone eating know there might be bones. That is why I like using the bigger bones for this dish, less chance of a stray little bone chipping a tooth.
Ingredients
- Smoked pork neck bones (or left over pork pot roast)
- 2 onions
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2-3 cups of black beans (pinto beans also work)
- 2 tspn salt
- 1 tspn mustard seed
- 3 tspn cumin
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tspn black pepper
- 2 – 3 cups rice
Directions
- Start by chopping one onion and two cloves of garlic. I put them into the soup pot, with just a little oil to help them not to stick.
- Add the pork next, and the dried beans. I usually eyeball all of this, because I have made it enough times that I don’t need to measure. I usually cover the bottom with beans and then add about three times as much water. If you are worried about the water, add more than instead of less. With this one, I added just enough water to cover the meat.
- Add the spices, but not he salt yet, and bring and bring to a boil. Once the beans are boiling, turn it down to a low simmer and leave the lid on. I like to check it about every hour or so, but I have also definitely forgotten about it for longer, that is why I like adding more water than I think might be necessary.
- After the first the first hour or so I like checking the beans. If the water is low and the beans are still not soft, add more water. I also taste the beans at this time and add the salt or any other spices. Give the salt some time to absorb before you add more.
- Check again after another hour or so. The water should be thickening up and the beans softening up. If the beans are about the consistency of a peanut, then they still need more time. If the beans are fairly soft, this is when I like to take the lid off. Having the lid off helps to thicken up the bean broth and I like it a little thicker.
While the lid is off and the beans are thickening up, I like to fix the rice. I like to add the other onion and garlic clove to the rice and lightly toast everything before adding the water. Usually by the time the beans are done thickening up, the rice is done.
*If the bean broth doesn’t thicken up even though the beans are done, leave the lid off and cook on low until more of the broth cooks off.
