black-beans.md

Black beans with lime and coriander rice, fried peppers and tomato salad

• First cooked by: @zooeymiller
• Date: Week 4 FACN2
• Author of Recipe: @zooeymiller

This recipe takes quite a long time, but the majority of it is just stirring the beans every now and then, so you can happily sit and code in the living room and have a timer reminding you to stir 💻 🍽️ 🎉

There are a few different components, just adjust your timings so they all finish together.

Ingredients

For the beans

• one bag of dry black beans (from the nut shop)
• 2 large sweet oranges
• 2 onions
• 1 garlic bulb

For the rice

• white rice (4 large-ish cups will make enough for around 10 people)
• 1 large bunch of fresh coriander, finely chopped
• Juice of 5+ limes (depending on how limey you want it)

Optional sides:

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Fried peppers:

• 4 yellow peppers
• 4 red peppers
• cumin
• salt
• pepper
• paprika

Onion and tomato salad

• 2 large red onions
• 6 tennis ball sized tomatos
• olive oil
• chilli powder (or chopped dried chillis)
• salt
• pepper

Method

For the beans

Time estimate: 3 hours

• rinse dry beans and add them to a large pan
• cut the onions in half, and remove skin, leave root attached to prevent them from falling apart, and put them in with the beans
• peel all of the garlic cloves and add to the beans
• cut oranges in half, squeeze juice into beans and add oranges to the beans
• cover the bean and aromatics mixture with cold water, about 5-8cm above the beans
• do not sautee the aromatics, they will overpower the earthiness of the beans, by just stewing them, you let the beans take the forefront
• do not add salt when cooking the beans
• cover and bring to a boil
• reduce to a simmer and remove lid
• cook for around 2.5 hours, stirring regularly (every 15-20 minutes), and adding water when it reduces so that it no longer covers the beans, making sure the beans on the bottom don't burn
• when the beans are fully soft (some beans may "blow out", this is fine, will make the gravy nice and starchy and earthy), which should take the aforementioned 2.5 hours or so you can increase the heat, and keep stirring to reduce any excess liquid on the beans so that it is a thick bean/gravy mixture.
• At this point you can add salt and pepper to taste, and maybe a dash of cumin. Serve hot.

For the rice

Time estimate: 30 minutes

• add rice to a large pan
• cover by around 5cm with boiling water. Add a few pinches of salt and a dash of olive oil.
• bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.
• cook for 10-20 minutes without stirring, or until rice is done
• The rice should be soft but not mushy and should maintain its rice-y shape
• when rice is done, pour out excess liquid, add chopping coriander and lime juice
• stir thorougly and serve hot.

For the peppers

Time estimate: 30 minutes

• De-seed and pull out all of the white pith from the peppers
• cut lengthways into 1cm wide strips
• mix with salt, pepper, paprika, cumin and olive oil
• Do not be shy with your spices! These peppers will add a spicy, sweet element to the meal.
• fry in a pan over a reasonably high heat until peppers are soft
• you may have to fry in batches, if so, turn the oven on to a medium heat and put the done peppers on a baking tray in the oven to keep warm
• Serve

For the salad

Time estimate: 10 minutes prep, 1 hour to sit

• peel and dice red onions into 0.5cm ish cubes
• dice tomatos into 1cm cubes
• combine in a bowl, add a healthy glug of olive oil, with salt, pepper and chilli powder/dried chillis to taste. Combine and let sit in the fridge for an hour or so to let flavours mingle.