Sure, you can spend a few hours cooking dried beans from scratch and use the leftover simmering liquid to make a batch of Bean Broth Rice.
Or you can simply puree some beans into stock and use that as the cooking liquid for the rice.
It's a quick workaround but it still leads to a delicious batch of flavored rice, minus the two hour simmer. You'll be tempted to gobble it up on its own, but if you keep some in the fridge it'll lead to lightning quick meals that are beyond satisfying (see tacos below!).
Bean Broth Rice
As with most rice recipes, you'll get best results using some stock that you trust. For this batch we're using the vegetable stock that we recently made for our Avocado Soup.
It's a simple process and I highly recommend it if you find yourself frequently buying stock from the store. Homemade stock is cheaper, tastes better, and it freezes well. (Here are more details on making vegetable stock.)
You'll need two cups of stock for this recipe. Add it to a blender or food processor along with:
2/3 cup black beans (drained and rinsed)
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 chipotle in adobo
1 tablespoon adobo sauce
1/2 teaspoon cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
freshly cracked black pepper
Combine well and you've got the beginnings of a flavor bomb on your hands.
Using a chipotle along with a tablespoon of the adobo sauce will give it a palpable heat, so if you want a milder version you can cut back on the chipotle or omit it altogether. (Here's more info on working with chipotles in adobo.)
Saute 1 cup of rice in a dollop of oil until it starts to turn golden brown.
Add the bean broth and stir well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and then let simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and give it a good stir, then cover and let it sit in its own steam for a few minutes.
I typically add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to 1 cup of rice, but found that this version needed a bit more, most likely because of the beans. So the broth already has 3/4 teaspoon of salt in it but definitely take another taste for seasoning at this point.
If all went according to plan you've got a fiery batch of Bean Broth Rice on your hands. Yowsa!
This rice will work great in a wide range of dishes, including burritos and enchiladas, but lately I've been using it to make some on-the-fly vegetarian tacos that have incredible flavor.
So in the above pic you've got Bean Broth Rice, Basic Guacamole, cheese, and a few drops of hot sauce. I typically add the cheese and rice to the tortilla and cook for a couple minutes over medium heat in a dry skillet.
You'll end up with a piping hot, semi-crispy taco that is beyond delicious and can be made in 5-10 minutes. They're a great meal to have in your repertoire for those days when you come home starving and don't want to cook.
Of course, that's assuming your fridge has a batch of Bean Broth Rice on standby. Time to give it a try!
Buen Provecho.
Bean Broth Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup white rice
- 2/3 cup black beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1/2 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 chipotle in adobo
- 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- freshly cracked black pepper
- oil
Instructions
- Add 2 cups of stock to a blender or food processor, along with 2/3 cup black beans (drained and rinsed), 1/2 onion, 2 garlic cloves, 1 chipotle in adobo, 1 tablespoon adobo sauce, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 3/4 teaspoon salt and some freshly cracked black pepper. Combine well.
- Saute 1 cup of rice in a dollop of oil over medium heat. When the rice starts to turn golden brown add the bean broth, stirring well.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low, letting it simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed, approx. 10-15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and give it a stir. Cover and let it sit in its own steam for a few minutes.
- Take a taste for seasoning, adding more salt if necessary. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
Still hungry?!
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Lea
Hi! Are the beans cooked first?
Patrick
Hi Lea, yeah you'll want to use cooked beans. Canned beans are cooked so when using them I just give 'em a quick drain and rinse, then combine them with the other ingredients. Cheers.
Chandni
I've made this multiple times with brown rice and it has always turned out great! I like eating the rice on its own or adding it to make really filling vegetarian enchiladas
Patrick
Hey thanks much for mentioning your vegetarian enchiladas Chandni, that's good to know as I've been fiddling with veggie enchiladas lately. Cheers.
Charles Michael Waddington
I. Was thinking of adding a roasted tomato component like in your other rice recipe and adjust broth ratio to compensate for additional liquid. Any thoughts?
Cheers Chaz
Patrick
Yeah go for it Chaz! If you add in 1 or 2 roasted roma tomatoes you probably wouldn't need to change much, but any more than that and you'll probably need to go lighter on the beans or stock. Cheers.
Traci S.
I have no idea if you are aware of this, but I think the idea of bean broth rice, is possibly the most frugal recipe ever invented?
I mean, just in case any human on planet earth was thinking, “How can i stretch beans even farther, and eat tasty food for only a few pennies?” Then the answer, to the question I didn’t even know I had, is “Bean Broth Rice”.
Peasant food is always the best food, and Bean Broth Rice, is proof of that. 🙂
Patrick
Ha, you are probably right Traci 🙂
Traci S.
Oh, and Patrick, i also wanted to mention that after doing several test runs of the Bean Broth Rice recipe, using only the ingredients i happened to have on hand, i jumped in and made the complete recipe as written and ... it’s delicious!
I know it wasn’t your original intent to school us in delicious peasant food that can be made with hardly any hands-on time, but i’ve found that if i portion out a big batch of all the other ingredients, i can put it in the rice cooker with the uncooked rice, and have it ready by the time i get back from an evening run. Love this!
Patrick
Ahh great news, thanks for your note Traci 🙂
BonJon
Your photo makes the rice look somewhat gummy, and your broth to rice ratio, 2:1, has always yielded very gummy rice for me. My crew prefers a more Mexican restaurant rice texture, more fluffy. In the past, they leave leftover rice untouched if it's gummy.
I really want to try this. The Mexican rice recipe I created is a 1:1 ratio. (They fight over the leftovers!) Do you think your recipe will work with just 1 cup of bean liquid, or does this leave too little liquid for the rice when you factor in the bean bulk?
Patrick
Hey Bonjon! I would probably try it with a 1.5:1 ratio and go from there, adding more liquid at the end if you need it. And if you like that fluffy texture you can try adding a splash of oil along with liquid as this will sometimes help the grains from mushing together. Cheers.
Yes
I love the recipe and want to make however wonder if you've ever tried making it with brown rice?
Patrick
Hi Yes, sorry I can't give a trip report on that one as I almost always use white rice, but I think you would still get some tasty results using brown rice. Cheers.
Sheri
I really, really liked the flavor of this Bean Broth Rice - especially subtle that kick of chipotle...nice! However, all I had on hand was long grain brown rice. I didn't think that would really matter, but after 30 minutes all of the liquid was gone and my rice was still crunchy. I will definitely try again using white rice, but just wanted to make sure you didn't use instant rice...
Patrick
Hola Sheri, I'm glad this one is a hit for you!
Hmmm I could probably clarify that a little better in the recipe as I am in the habit of always using white rice for Mexican dishes. I mostly use standard long grain white rice, but not instant.
Keep in mind that brown rice typically requires a bit more liquid than white rice. Whereas I always use 2 cups of simmering liquid for 1 cup dried white rice, you'll probably need 2 1/2 cups simmering liquid for brown rice, and maybe even more for short grain brown rice:
http://www.eatingwell.com/article/67554/how-to-cook-brown-rice-perfectly/
I think if you try it again with more simmering liquid it will work out. Hope that helps a bit, let me know how it goes!
Patrick