Denise's go-to rice and bean recipe
For me, rice and beans can mean anything. My dinners never turn out the same. I don't follow recipes. I free-style it with whatever I have that day.
My pantry is full of beans. Pretty much any variety: kidney, black, navy, pinto, romano. My kids also like the little green mung beans. I try to switch things up, because we eat rice and beans most of the time. Soups are good, and also chilis. But our favourites are 'burritos', where we wrap soft tortillas around any filling that's not too wet.
I cook my own beans, because that's way cheaper. I spend some of the money I save to buy a few things that make the meals a bit more special. Sour cream, shredded cheese, green onion. And sometimes a jar of butter-chicken sauce to flavour a whole pot of rice and beans.
My go-to-recipe is this one: Rice and black beans for burritos
- I fry up an onion and a clove of garlic if I have it
- I usually have cumin and paprika on hand, so I add a bit of that, plus salt and pepper
- Then I mix in cooked black beans with some water and tomato paste and let that simmer a while
- When I have peppers or tomatoes I add those as well
- Finally I mix in cooked rice and let that heat through
At the table, the kids don't actually roll the tortillas into a burrito shape. They simply put rice and beans, plus any toppings we have, in the middle and fold the wraps over, like for tacos.
Sometimes I freeze the leftover filling properly wrapped in the tortilla shells as burritos, because that's easier for reheating. Or I add some broth to my rice and beans, slice some sausage into the pot, and serve it as soup the next day.
Submitted by Denise