solution: as always, this recipe makes several portions and can easily be refrigerated and reheated in the microwave. more importantly though, this dish can be a satisfying, healthy and well rounded meal with a salad or can serve as a side dish. see the "hints" after the recipe for more tips on serving this.
warning - the first step is leeeengthy, but you're learning to roast a red bell pepper and i want to make sure nobody gets intimidated.
ingredients:
- 1 carrot, diced (or about 6 baby carrots, diced)
- 1/3 red bell pepper, roasted and diced (i'll explain, you can do it! be brave!)
- 1/2 medium onion, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, diced (again, worth it to get fresh garlic or sub 3 teaspoons jarred, pre-diced garlic)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika (there's plain paprika, sweet paprika, hungarian paprika, but i live and die by smoked paprika. i see it in all "regular" grocery stores but only in McCormick brand - so it's a little pricier, but dear god it's a major addition to any dish it's in)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne or red pepper
- 1 tsp black pepper (i like this dish a little spicy, if this scares you, reduce black pepper in half then taste it later and adjust if needed)
- 1/4 cup red wine (adds another level of flavor, but isn't necessary for the dish to work)
- 2 cups crushed, canned tomato
- 2 1/2 cups water
-1 1/2 cup brown rice (i use medium or long grain, it's less starchy than short grain and this dish is going to be moist anyway, so we don't need extra starch gooping it up)
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 3/4 can corn
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (fresh lemon and cilantro?! i know, i'm asking a lot, but at ~30 cents a lemon and 99 cents for a big bunch of cilantro, it's worth it)
what to do:
1. first step is always the same: get your prep work out of the way - but now we have a new piece of prep so this is going to be lengthy -
roasting a red pepper!! don't be intimidated - take a couple minutes right now and we'll conquer the concept. you only need 1/3 of the pepper so slice it length-wise (from stem down to the "butt" or belly button) now you have one long, kinda wedge of pepper. turn your stove burner on full blast (sorry, you have to have a gas stove) and lay the pepper wedge skin-side down on the grate over the burner where you would normally put a pot or pan. don't stress, it's counter-intuitive, but let the pepper char, moving it with a pair of tongs or a long fork so all the skin turns black and papery. remove it from the fire once the entire skin side is black - the flesh side shouldn't have changed much visually, but you'll notice now the pepper is floppy and softer. set this aside to cool for a couple minutes. once you can handle the pepper, take a paper towel and wipe that thin, burnt skin right. just nice, confident long wipes - you don't need to "scrub" it off. make sure you get it all off (there may be some tiny flecks, you'll live) just don't run it under water to get the skin off, or you're washing off those natural oils and flavor.
you just roasted a pepper. look at you.
back to prep: measure out your spices and put them in a dish together, dice all your veggies (including roasted pepper and garlic). until now it hasn't really mattered what size you cut stuff - we blended the pasta sauce and the dip just mushed together - this time, think about the consistency of the dish - what are the sizes we are working with? rice, beans and corn - so try to roughly get your veggies a little bigger than that as they'll cook down a bit.
2. get a medium sauce pan over a medium heat, add the tbsp olive oil and all your veggies and garlic. saute these for 5 minutes or so until the onion and celery are getting translucent. (some sizzling is fine, we just don't want things browning - if they are, turn your heat down)
3. add all of your seasonings and saute another 5 minutes. your veggies should have cooked down significantly and your pan should be getting a little dry from the seasonings - that's ok, as long as nothing is turning black
4. add the red wine and stir a bit so all those dry seasoning bits and veggies get up off the pan - let that wine sizzle and pop for 2 minutes.
5. add your tomato, water and rice, turn your fire up to medium/high. stir everything together, and let it come to a boil.
6. let it boil for a couple minutes then give it a final stir to ensure nothing got too hot or stuck to the bottom of the pot, put the lid on and reduce your heat to a low flame. ("kc, what does 'low' mean?" well, you still want your stuff to be simmering but not boiling. so you want the tiny "blub blub blub" bubbles and sound, but the whole contents shouldn't be rolling or turning by boiling)
7. listen to me: leave it alone. let it gently simmer for about 25-30 minutes. rice works best in a private setting...so quit with the peeping tom act, just leave the lid on.
8. after 25-30 minutes, open up, give it a stir and see where you are. rice not done and there's still watery liquid floating around? put your lid back on and give it another 10 minutes. still liquidy but your rice IS done? leave the lid off and let it go for another 10 minutes. this is the beauty of using brown rice (aside from it being better for you than white rice!) - it's heartier so you're not in as much danger of over-cooking it.
9. check your rice again - it should still be a "moist" mixture, you're not looking for fluffy, well defined individual grains, but you don't want a bunch of runny liquid in your pan. look for that balance, but don't stress, ultimately - just taste the freakin' rice - is it done? then your done. stop it.
10. once done, remove from heat and add your corn, beans, lemon juice and cilantro (optional for those freaks who "hate" cilantro) taste your dish and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
hints:
-this dish may seem a little more involved, a lot of little "add this, cook for 2 minutes, add that then 2 more minutes, etc etc) but you're building the flavor in those first 4 steps. this is why i say - get your prep done first! that way you can have everything out and ready so the whole process flows. dice all your veggies and have them in a bowl, measure your spices and have them in a little bowl, measure your tomato and water and have that in another container. makes for more dishes to wash, but if it keeps you from freaking out with measuring cups and spoons strewn on the counter and the veggies burning while you're trying to pry the stupid cap off your cumin...DO IT.
-this dish could be an entire meal - i like to eat a ~1 1/2 cups with 1/4 avocado diced on top. you could also serve a cup with a little grilled chicken and a side veggie for a fuller, more diverse meal.
-fresh cilantro is so good, but i understand if you're worried you'll buy a clump and only use part of it for this - i recommend chopping some of the remainder up and adding it to your store bought, jarred salsa along with the unused 1/4 can of corn - jazz that salsa up and seem fancy. you can of course also use bottled lemon juice in lieu of fresh...but fresh lemon juice really brightens the dish up and contrasts the smokiness well.
-when you dish some into a bowl and go to microwave it - cover it with a plate to prevent it from drying out. and if your rice came out a little drier to begin with, add 2 tbsp water and mix before reheating.
-the beauty of a dish like this is...nobody can tell you you're wrong. with the seasonings and measurements given, it will taste good (as long as your rice is fully cooked) so don't get too caught up on whether or not yours is the exact moistness it should be once the rice is done and the liquid's reduced - did it come out more like a thick rice stew? who cares, it's still good! is it a drier rice dish? as long as it's tasty.
nutritional facts:
recipe yields about 7 cups, we'll say 1 cup is a serving.
facts per cup:
calories: 279
fat: 3.8g
saturated fat: .3g
cholesterol: 0mg
sodium: 790 mg
carbohydrates: 52.9g
fiber: 6.8g
sugar: 4g
protein: 9.1g
vitamin A: 62%
vitamin C: 23%
calcium: 5%
iron: 17%
wow, kc. so delicious!!! i just made this for dinner. soo good. especially with avocado on top. and you're right about the lemon juice- gives it such a nice flavor. love it! post more
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