Black Beans and Yellow Rice (and a whole lot more!)

Who would have guessed that beans and rice could taste so good! Both the beans and the rice are flavored with coconut milk. The rice is made with saffron, which is fragrant and colorful. The beans get spiced up with chipotle, onions, green peppers, and cilantro. Topped with pickled red onions and cilantro, this dish is colorful and delicious. I thought it was going to need something to go with it, so I made simple cheese quesadillas, but it would have been just fine on its own. And the big bonus? It's fast and easy. The whole thing was ready in under half an hour.

Here's how to get going:

If you're going to make pickled onions to use as a garnish, start that first. Both the flavor and the color are fabulous with the yellow rice and the black beans. Thinly slice one red onion into rounds. Put it in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of sugar. Stir and cover with apple cider vinegar. Let sit for 15 minutes or more. The onions will get soft and turn a beautiful dark pink color. Lift onions out of vinegar to serve.

Bring 2 cups water, 1/2 can coconut milk, a couple pinches of saffron and 1/2 t. of turmeric to a boil. Add 1 1/2 cups rinsed basmati rice. Turn down the heat to very low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork when finished.

Finely dice 1 small onion, 1 green pepper, and 1/3 cup cilantro. Heat a couple teaspoons peanut or olive oil and saute the vegetables and a bay leaf for 5 minutes. Add 1/4 t. (or more to taste) chipotle powder, 1 t. toasted, ground cumin seeds, and one minced garlic clove. Give it a good stir to combine, and then add 2 cans black beans and the rest of the can of coconut milk. (I used home cooked black beans because I forgot to buy cans of black beans. Lucky I had them in my freezer, just waiting for such a day. By the way, it takes very little effort to cook your own beans. Rather than soaking them overnight. I just rinse and drain them, cover them with boiling water and let them sit for an hour. Then I cover them with more water and cook for an hour or until tender. Last time I made some, I got them started and then went and sat in the hot tub for awhile. How's that for easy cooking? I then use an empty can (I happened to have a coconut milk can I had just used) to measure the cooked beans. I put them in a ziplock baggie, press out all the air, and put them in the freezer. They store flat, so you can stack a bunch of them. That way, when a recipe calls for a can of beans, I just grab one baggie and I'm ready to go. My favorite beans to have on hand are black beans, garbanzo beans, and cannellini beans.)

Bring it to a boil and then simmer until the rice is ready. Season with salt and the juice of one lime. Pile some rice on a plate, cover with black beans, and garnish the top with pickled onions and cilantro. So pretty. Serve with lime quarters.

Things I'd do differently next time: Nothing

Approximate cost to prepare:
coconut milk - $1.50 (less if you buy it at Trader Joe's)
1 1/2 cups basmati rice - $2.00 (cheaper if you buy it in larger quantities)
1 bell pepper -$1.00
1 onion - $.50
1/3 cup cilantro - $.15
2 cans black beans - $2.00
2 limes - $.50
1 red onion - $.35
saffron - $2.00 (the little container of saffron cost 5 dollars. 2 pinches was about 1/3 of it.)
Powdered chipotle - negligible (a small bag of it from Andy's cost $3.75, but I only used 1/4 teaspoon.)
garlic, oil, salt, bay leaf - negligible
Total - $8.00 for 4 very large, dinner size portions

I will definitely be making this again.