Next up... Brazilian Black Beans w/ Rice

Good Morning folks.... Last night we made the Brazilian Black Beans and Rice.  Boy was it yummy!!  Take a look at the final product!

My sweet hubby wanted to take the pictures last night and even made me go outside and pluck some nice fresh parsley to spruce up the picture.  We threw the parsley away....


Today you get the list of ingredients because I think it will be easier that way:

2 cloves garlic- pressed or finely minced

2 medium onions  ( I just used one big one)

2 Tbsp butter ( you can use oil but why would you??)

4 cups water, stock, or sprout water  (I have no idea what sprout water is so I used Vegetable Stock)

1 cup dried black beans, washed ( I soaked my beans, it doesn't say you have to but the bean gods insisted)

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp Paprika  ( I might have slipped in a bit more.. I like the color)

1 tsp salt

2 stalks of celery, chopped

In a heavy saucpan saute garlic and onions in the butter.  Ok folks, I don't like the taste of raw celery so I went all rogue here and threw the celery in too.  I'm a rebel...  looks yummy doesn't it?  Get those nice and translucent and slightly golden brown. Don't burn the garlic..it's a bad thing.

Add the liquid, beans, bay leaves and paprika. Bring to boil on high heat then reduce your heat  to low and add the salt and celery.  Unless you are a rebel like me and you already tossed in that celery.

Simmer partially covered for about 3 hours or until the beans are tender.  Watch your liquid levels and add additional as necessary.  I just added regular tap water when I needed some....hey, I was out of vegetable stock!! Once again, I beg, please don't judge me.

Now the next steps we forgot to do because quite frankly... we were hungry!  It didn't mess up the recipe, it just didn't change the appearance to thicker beans, which is ok with me because I had lots of juice to sop up with my French bread. If you don't know what sop means... I'm sorry, you've led a sad food life.  Remove 2 Tbsp of the beans and mash them into a smooth paste using the back of a fork.  Add the mashed beans back to the pot and cook a bit longer to thicken the whole mixture.  This really does make a big difference, my hubby does this with the red beans and rice. Serve over steamed brown rice or if you are like us, the yellow saffron rice!!   I thought this was really good and we've been two nights without meat in our dinner. However it was mentioned if "my mom had some ham she would've thrown that in there". Well thanks dear, I did have ham and I didn't because I didn't want to mess up the recipe. Lesson learned go with your gut... it's probably right.