Beans and rice - how would you spice it up?
Beans and rice - how would you spice it up?
Beans and rice is known for being a cheap meal, supplying all of the essential amino acids.
But how would you spice it up, literally and figuratively? Would love to hear your thoughts.
If you have anything other than water use it. Cooking the rice in chicken stock and/or fruit or vegetable juice will always put you ahead in flavour. The stock can be made from cube.
A lot of Middle Eastern dishes use rice and pulses. Try a pilaf style dish like this or this minus the meat and then add cooked or canned pulses at the end. Here's a vegan one with very simple ingredients.
You can also consider something like dahl and rice or lentil stew. (Other pulses like lentils and chick peas work as well as beans.) Lentil/bean+rice dosa or idli are another choice.
Adzuki beans sound like a pain to cook from fresh but if you can find tinned here's a Japanese recipe.
Red beans and rice usually requires Andouille sausage and bones but here's a simpler version without the more expensive ingredients. You can make a small amount of your own spice mix if that's cheaper than buying the seasoning or you don't use Creole a lot.
Gallo pinto can use up leftover cooked rice.
Mexican food also uses beans and rice a lot. Consider a bean and cheese burrito. These are freezer burritos so you have a few backup dinners.
Grains can combine with pulses or legumes too:
Hummus is very simple to make, blitzing canned chick peas garlic tahini and olive oil with a stick mixer. Just use it up fast, like 2 days. You can add that to wholemeal bread or pita.
And for a quick snack, peanut butter sandwich on wholemeal bread is also a complete protein. Nuts or beans also work with wholemeal grains.
Corn too. Soup beans on cornbread is another option. I'm not sure if you can get a few of the fussy ingredients for corn bread in Aus but you can possibly substitute polenta as it can be subbed for grits.
One last tip: You can caramelise onions in bulk (a pinch of baking soda speeds the process) and they freeze well for whenever they're needed. Freeze in portions for a topping or to add to whatever for flavour.
(Disclaimer: I haven't personally tested all of these out due to being unable to eat them now. They're just some ideas. Also don't beat yourself up if you can't live perfectly frugal on rice and beans, as soaking and cooking is labour and legumes/pulses can be rough on even normal healthy stomachs.)
Thank you!!!!
Curry paste! It’s super yummy and there is a wide verity of options.
Red beans and rice is also top tier when it comes to flavor. I love a good vinegar based hot sauce to give it some tang.
Taco seasoning is my intuition (has cumin, paprika, chilli powder, onion powder, etc.) and/or salsas, if you have the money for it you can make that into burritos and other dishes with lettuce, tomato, sour cream/yogurt, etc..
Along those lines, I think this Jamaican Mackeral & Rice recipe, which uses an all purpose seasoning (AllSpice?), would go well with just switching the beans in for the mackerel.
You could substitute or skip any of the ingredients you don't have handy. I think I used some diced tomatoes instead of using up all my tomato sauce, a little cinammon and nutmeg for the pimento berries, and instead of the scotch bonnet, I just used some hot sauce.
Simple, tasty, fast & pretty darn cheap too!
Peruvians eat lentils with rice and it's amazing. Here's a recipe that looks like the way I eat it.
https://buenazo.pe/recetas/platos-de-fondolentejas-receta-paso-paso-890
Bacon and Javaanse sambal
Kalamata olives, some fetta, a bit of salad and suddenly you have enough to make a wrap
I make a lot of lebanese rice. It's really easy.
https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/lebanese-rice/#wprm-recipe-container-8043