Food Friday: Red Beans and Rice

 Making a new dish is always an adventure! Today I made our daughter's Red Beans and Rice recipe.  More or less...!

This is the recipe as she sent it to us:

https://damndelicious.net/2019/04/15/red-beans-and-rice/

1 cup basmati rice

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 (12.8-ounce) package smoked andouille sausage, thinly sliced

1 medium sweet onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

2 celery ribs, diced

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning, salt-free

3 (15-ounce) cans red beans, drained and rinsed

3 cups chicken stock

1 teaspoon hot sauce

1 bay leaf

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

 

 

DIRECTIONS:

In a large saucepan of 2 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.

Heat vegetable oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Working in batches, add sausage, and cook, stirring frequently, until sausage is lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes; set aside.

Add onion, bell pepper and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.

Stir in tomato paste, garlic and Cajun seasoning until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Stir in red beans, chicken stock, hot sauce, bay leaf and sausage; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Uncover; continue to simmer until reduced, an additional 15 minutes.

Using a wooden spoon, mash beans until slightly thickened, if desired; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve immediately, topped with rice and garnished with parsley, if desired.

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What we did differently:

PACC Red Beans and Rice

1 cup brown rice cooked in the Instant Pot with 1 cup water (pot in pot since we have a very handy 3" high 6" wide cake pan from Wilton, the perfect thing for pot in pot cooking in the Instant Pot.) for 28 minutes and let pressure release naturally.

1 (12-ounce) package Soyrizo, pulled out of wrapper and crumbled

1 large sweet onion, diced

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

2 celery ribs, diced

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 heaping teaspoons minced garlic--probably close to 2 Tablespoons! 

1 1/2 teaspoons Creole seasoning

4 1/2 cups cooked red beans--3 cans if you bought them 

3 cups vegetable stock

Put a non-stick pan on stove and bring to hot enough temperature which you check by sprinkling in a little water which will dance around.  Add the onions, peppers, and celery dice.  Stir every so often until the onion is translucent and the other vegetables wimpy.

In a large pot put the vegetable stock, the cooked rice, the crumbled Soyrizo, the Creole seasoning mix, the beans, the tomato paste, and the garlic and bring to a nice bowi.  Add the cooked vegetables and stir well.  

What I did with the rice is that I threw it in with the bean sauce mixture.  Most people serve rice on the plate then scoop the beans over the top.  I liked it just fine all mixed in together.  It is going to mix in the tummy anyway so why not cut out the middle man, or rather, the middle step?!

This turned out to taste good enough that Dear One helped himself to a second bowl!  I consider that a real win! I will take it to a plant based potluck tomorrow.