Recipe-Bean night

We have bean night once a week here to cut costs to afford other things like free range chicken, not to mention we also like them, a lot. As a matter of fact, they were my favorite childhood food. I'll warn you though, this is MY rendition of them, I dont have a lot of the authentic ingredients available to me, and my husband and I LOVE cilantro so this recipe is chock full of it.

Puerto Rican Rice and Beans (Arroz con Habichuelas):

So with these ingredients, I just sorta throw them in, but I can tell you amounts...somewhat ;)

First you start with some partially (Mostly) cooked beans (that are soaked overnight) or you can use canned. I have nothing against them. Then get the rest of your ingredients together:

*Cilantro- a whole bunch (literally- a whole "bunch")
*Garlic- however much you like, I use the equivalent of about 4-5 cloves
*Green bell pepper- I use a whole one, you can use less if you want (not shown since it was in the food processor)
*Onion- half of a yellow/white onion
*olive oil..just a tbsp or so.
(If you have capers and oregano on hand, they are good in here also, I just never have them)

Add all those ingredients to your food processor or better yet, your blender. My blender is having issues, so food processor will do. This is called "sofrito"..yum, smells very fresh...its my favorite part.




Get yourself about 3, 8 ounce cans of tomato sauce ready



And dump both of those into your cooked beans (We use pink or pinto..these are pinto)



Add some salt to taste and any other seasonings you have on hand. I need to pick up some adobo, but they are fine without it.

Stir it all up and let simmer for a while to cook the rawness of the vegetables out and serve over rice.





This is really good over brown or white rice..whatever you are used to. I also like to serve this with fried plantains, although I haven't made them in a long time.