Puerto Rican Rice and Beans (Brown Rice) – Recipe

Puerto Rican Rice and Beans – You know how there are certain foods that warm you up inside and make your tummy happy? They’re usually foods that you grew up eating, things Mom or Grandma or someone you love made for you. They’re the foods that we refer to as “comfort foods”. Well, I didn’t grow up Puerto Rican, nor did I grow up eating this dish, however, over the years, it has become one of my comfort foods. This is another one of those dishes that my wonderful Puerto Rican in-laws introduced me to and I have to say once again that Puerto Rican Food is some of the best tasting stuff on Earth. I love it!  There are a lot of main dishes you can serve this with like roast pork loin, or even a nice fish dish done with Caribbean flavors, it also makes a nice main course just as it is. If you would like you can also spice it up with some hot sauce. Everyone in my house does except for me and the babies but I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to spicy food. I hope you love this dish and it warms your tummy! Happy cooking!

Sofrito -This will make way more then you need, I make a huge batch in my food processor and freeze it in one cup portions. Feel free to scale this way down (divide by like 4 or so) especially if you don’t have a food processor. I do recommend making the extra and saving it if you have a food processor though. You are going to want to make this again and it will save some time. If you only want to make enough for this recipe, just divide it by eight. Don’t worry, I’ll do the math for you. :)

Ingredients for the Sofrito

2 onions
5 green bell peppers
2 heads garlic
1 bunch cilantro

*If you are only making enough sofrito for this recipe use 1/4 onion, 1/2 bell pepper, 4 cloves garlic, 2 sprigs cilantro. Chop everything fine and mix it together.

Instructions for the Sofrito

1. Peel the garlic and pulse it in a food processor until it’s minced. Put it in a large bowl.
2. Slice the bell peppers down the sides. Be careful of the seed packet (throw those away) and pulse in the food processor until minced.
3. Add to your garlic.
4. Peel and quarter the onions. Pulse them in a food processor just a few times and add the cilantro. Pulse them until they’re minced.
5. Add this to the garlic and bell pepper mixture.
6. Stir everything up to combine it.

You now have the beginning of tons of Island Dishes. Beautiful Sofrito. At this point I freeze it into one cup portions in baggies for future use. It’s a great time saver. Keep two cups out for the recipe though.

Ingredients for the Rice and Beans

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 cup sofrito *(or follow the measurements above for “enough for just this recipe)*
10 olives (you can add more if you want)
1 teaspoon capers
1 potatoe, medium diced (about 1 1/4 cups diced)
1 (16 oz) can dark red kidney beans *see note
2 cup chicken stock (it’s ok to used canned stock or broth, just make sure it’s low sodium)
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1/4 pack sazon (Goya makes this), or replace your olive oil with achiote oil (annoto oil)
1/8 teaspoon thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon oregano (dried, or 3 tsp fresh)
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup tomato sauce

*For the beans you can use light or dark kidney beans or pinto beans or any other you choose. I usually double the recipe and use one can of kidney beans and one can of pinto beans. I don’t recommend black beans though.

Instructions

1. Place the olive oil in a medium sauce pot.
2. Saute the sofrito in the olive oil for about two minutes.
3. Add the olives and capers then saute for another minute.
4. Add the potatoes and beans and stir.
5. Add the chicken stock, salt and pepper, and herbs and spices, then stir.
6. Add the tomato sauce and stir.
7. Bring everything to a boil.
8. Reduce the heat. Allow your beans to simmer for about a half an hour, stir every five or ten minutes or so scraping the bottom to keep it from sticking.
9. As it thickens, you may need to stir more often.
10. Allow the beans to cook until you have a nice thick sauce.
11. Serve your beans over rice (I use brown rice and I cook it in my rice cooker, you will need 2 or 3 cups of cooked rice for serving depending on how you portion it).

Please enjoy this “how to” video!