Smells Like Bean Spirit

science and a forgotten family recipe

Welcome to the second installment of our new series for ✨SUPPORTERS ONLY✨ here in The Broiler Room: Beans and Rice. Or Rice and Beans. However you grew up saying it- we’re a house divided: one of us is right, the other is uncultured- the dish remains the same. Delish, affordable, and the backbone of all human cuisine. Each week we’re going to look at why this simple plate of food is one of the most diverse and nutritionally dense meals you can make at home without much effort. But first, SOME MFKN KNOWLEDGE.

love a graphic

Legumes (lentils, beans, etc) aren’t just good for us, they’re fucking fascinating  plants. Legumes can assimilate the nitrogen in our atmosphere, along with bacteria that live in the plants’ roots, into organic compounds that enrich the soil. This NOT ONLY improves air quality, but it lets the crop grow with little or NO fertilizer.  This nitrogen fixation process is one of the many reasons lots of farmers are switching more and more of their land into pulse production. Pulse proteins are the building blocks to most of the popular plant-based meats like the Beyond Burger that are taking over the market. The success of these products has finally tapped legumes back into the ring of popular food and made them a cash crop for farmers.

This return to beans couldn’t come at a more crucial time. A recent study calculated that a global transition to a plant-based diet would shrink our agricultural land requirement by 75 percent. That means we’d have a shitload of space to restore all the wild lands that we’ve cleared in the name of agriculture, while increasing global biodiversity in the process. 

According to Nature Sustainability, restoring native ecosystems on the land freed up by a plant-based shift could sequester ALL of the carbon dioxide necessary to limit global temperatures to warming only 1.5 degree Celsius compared with the 2.4 degrees we’re currently on track to hit in 2050. Basically, if we all eat more beans we could save the world. Let’s start now.

All beans are magic Rachel

This week’s recipe has been a labor of love. Congri, the Cuban staple of red beans and rice, might be known worldwide but every single home makes theirs just a little bit different. Depending on where your family comes from on the island means you might make this dish with black beans instead of red. Michelle’s girlfriend Kyria grew up eating her grandma Flor’s take on the iconic meal and has been missing it ever since Flor passed away. After much trial and error, this is the recipe that brought back all the nostalgia for Kyria and that we couldn’t stop eating. From Flor’s kitchen to yours.

we could eat this forever and ever

El Congri de Flor

Makes enough for 4 people

1 cup of red beans, soaked overnight or for at least a couple hours

2 bay leaves

salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 red or green bell pepper, finely chopped

2 chipotles in adobo sauce, seeded and finely chopped*

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons ground cumin

½ teaspoon salt

½ dry white wine or veggie broth

2 cups long grain rice like basmati, rinsed

½ cup chopped cilantro

Limes

Rinse the beans, picking out any that look fucked up, then put them in a saucepan and cover with at least 3 inches of water. Let these soak overnight or for a few hours to reduce your cooking time. When it’s time to get going, do not change the water. Just turn up the heat to high and throw in the bay leaves. Let this shit come to a boil for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to medium and let the pot simmer until the beans are soft, about an hour and a half. If the pan is starting to look like there’s less than an inch of water above the cooking beans, pour a lil more warm water in. Right before the beans are done add ½ teaspoon of salt to the pot. If you add that shit too soon it can make the beans cook slower or worse, never soften.

When the beans are about done, warm up the oil over a medium-high heat and add the onions to a large pot. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until slightly browned, about 5-7 minutes. Add the bell pepper, chipotle peppers, garlic, smoked paprika, oregano, cumin, and salt and cook, stirring often, until everything is soft and your kitchen smells amazing, about 6-9 minutes. Add the wine and use it to scrape off any burnt-on flavor that might have stuck to the bottom of the pot. That’s flavor concentrate, you’re gonna wanna use that. Add the rice and cook it all together for about 1 minute so that the rice gets coated. Now add the beans and their cooking liquid to the pot. You want about 3 cups of liquid in there so if there wasn’t enough bean broth, add more veggie broth to make up the difference.

Bring all this to a boil over medium-high heat, cover, and turn down the heat to maintain a gentle, low simmer. Cook until the water is absorbed, and the rice is tender, about 18 minutes. Don’t peek in the pot while this is going on, just set a timer for 15 minutes and only start checking after it goes off. Taste and season with salt and lime juice to get it however you like.

Just before serving, stir in the cilantro and drizzle with a lil bit of olive oil. Serve warm with extra cilantro on top and lime wedges on the side. This goes great with a simple salad of finely sliced cabbage or romaine lettuce dressed with salt, lemon juice, and olive oil right on the side.

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Thanks again for joining us here in The Broiler Room. Leave the dishes. We’ll clean up. Same place next week, right?

Michelle and Matt