Brazilian Rice & Beans

This original recipe comes from the super adorable Chef Paula Romero - I look forward to veganizing some of her other Brazilian delights!

This might seem like a lot of work but it's worth it and you can make a big batch and it freezers so well.

Brazilian Rice & Beans

Ingredients

Rice:

1 cup white rice, rinsed and dry. 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

1 teaspoon garlic paste

2 – 2 ½ cups boiling water

Beans:

2 cups dried beans

6-8 cups water

3 bay leaves

3 strips of vegan bacon, cut in small pieces (optional)

1 small onion, diced

1 teaspoon garlic paste

1 large chopped tomato, peeled and seeded

Method

Beans

Pick through the beans and discarding any damaged. Rinse in cold water and soak overnight (at least 8 hours) with enough water to cover.

Discard the water when ready to use, rinse beans well and strain.

I cooked mine in an Instapot, she uses a pressure cooker. 

Add 6-8 cups of water and cooked on the stove on med-high till tender but not falling apart. Set aside while you make the bean seasoning. For my beans I just followed the settings on my Instapot.

In a separate pot on a medium heat add drizzle of olive oil.

If you have vegan bacon you can cook it until crispy, if not I just added a bit of coconut oil, liquid smoke and salt at the end to give it a slight bacon flavor. Reserve a tablespoon of the infused oil.

Add in the onions and cook until they are translucent then add the tomatoes cook for a few minutes and then add the garlic paste.

Once the garlic is fragrant, add in the beans and bean water (to your preference), reserving one ladle of beans and one ladle of water in a separate bowl.

Add bay leaves and salt (to taste) to the bean mixture.

Mush the reserved beans and water with a fork, then add them back to the bean mix helping it to thicken.

Let mixture simmer on a low heat, covered, while you make the rice (around 15-20mins).

Rice

For the rice add the olive to a hot pan then add in the rice, garlic paste and salt to taste.

Stir together and keep stirring so the rice gets coated but doesn't brown.

Carefully pour boiling water into the pan and give it a quick stir to combine.

Cover with a lid with a slight angle, lower the heat and simmer for around 8 mins until the water is almost cooked down but not completely. Check it and turn the heat off and set aside for 5 mins.

Drizzle the reserved oil over the rice and stir through.

For Serving

Remove the bay leaves from the beans and serve rice with with as much of the bean and broth per preference!

I felt like the dish needed a bit of salt but otherwise but flavorful, complete protein meal and so cheap!