I've done it again! I've come up with another crazy concoction! This is what you get when you try to boil beans and rice together and then apply the basic structure of a chili recipe and the whole thing snowballs.
Fair warning: This stuff isn't going to look pretty. It's not about looking pretty. It's about cooking up a healthy hearty batch meal that can serve you for lunch and/or dinner over the course of weeks. This is a dish that goes SPLAT. Leave the fanciness for the five-hundred-dollar-plate places.
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound of ground meat of any variety. I recommend poultry because it's easier to break apart in the pot.
1 large onion, preferrably white or vidalia
1 big potato, preferrably russet
1 cup beans. I usually do half black beans and half pinto beans.
1 cup rice
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp each of whatever spices you like. I usually go with a combo of onion powder, garlic powder, and cumin. But I've also had success with a combo of italian seasoning, thyme, powdered mustard and garlic powder. Ultimately the flavor isn't going to come through very strongly in the end, so go nuts.
Water (details in directions)
PREP TIME: 8-24 hours
COOK TIME: 30-45 minutes
DIRECTIONS:
1. Soak beans overnight, up to 24 hours if you want to be sure they'll come out right.
2. Now here's the issue with the water. You have to take your soaked beans and measure how many cups of them you've got, now that they've expanded. Double that amount and then add two cups for the rice, and that's how many cups of water you will need to add to the pot. So if your beans come out to 4 cups, you need 8 cups for them plus 2 for the rice, total 10 cups of water. You're gonna need your biggest pot for this recipe. Feel free to halve the recipe if your pots aren't big enough.
3. Dice the onion.
4. Dice the potato.
5. Place pot on stove, heat on medium. Toss in the oil.
6. Let the oil heat up until it's a little more runny, then toss in the onion and simmer for two minutes, stirring frequently.
7. Toss in the potato and keep stirring another two minutes.
8. Open up your ground meat and chuck that in. Break it up with a long spoon until it's thoroughly broken up, and stir occasionally for 6 minutes, or until it's all properly browned.
9. Toss in the spices and stir to completely coat everything.
10. Pour in the water.
11. Add beans and rice and stir it all up.
12. Turn the heat up to high and bring the whole thing to a rolling boil.
13. On that rolling boil, stir constantly for 15-20 minutes, or however long it takes for the whole thing to thicken and your arms to get tired. Or you could try to simmer it on medium over a longer period and stir less frequently and see what happens. It's a pretty variable recipe depending on how you handle this step.
14. Once the mixture is thickened to your preference, take off the heat and let cool for ten minutes.
15. Ladle it out and serve! Goes well with a mixture of sour cream and salsa. But what doesn't, really?
Serves: Yourself. What, you wanted to show this abomination to your loved ones? Good luck!
UPDATE:
It occurs to me that I have created Brown Gack. Oh well, at least it's not vegetarian!