Mexican Style Rice and Beans

First off, we'd like to thank PG for the Lemonade Award. It always feels good to be acknowledged by a fellow scientist :)

Next, we'd like to thank Lisa for the Triple Award. I'm still waiting for that A-Rod post btw :)

Now, coming back to the post. We've stated in the past that we love food inspired from Latin America. I guess Mexican food is the most popular and more ubiquitous in the U.S. We've tried Burritos, Tacos but with store bought seasonings. Honestly, the seasonings for different preparations do not taste all that different! We thought of making something more 'authentic'. One fine day, we were watching Bobby Flay churn out some really neat stuff on T.V. He gave a quick tutorial on different chilies used in Latin American cooking. We took inspiration from this and decided to try our own Mexican rice. Since the most popular (vegetarian) addition to rice involves beans, we fixed some Mexican rice with black beans. We used some chipotle chili peppers (basically smoked jalapeno peppers) and dried Ancho chilies (dried Poblano peppers). It turns out that black beans apparently originated in Mexico around 7000 years ago. So not bad for keeping it real in terms of ingredients ;) Here's how we made it and it turned out totally delish!

Ingredients

1 16 oz can of Black Beans (you could always used fresh cooked ones)
1 cup cooked rice (we used basmati rice)
1 small onion (coarsely chopped)
1 medium red bell pepper
2 medium Poblano peppers
2 pieces of dried chipotle chilies
1 piece dried Ancho chili
1 small tomato
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Roast the chipotle and Ancho chillies and grind them into a fine powder.

2. Heat the oil in the pan. Splutter the cumin seeds.

3. Crank the heat to high and sear the bell peppers and the Poblano peppers. Once the peppers acquire the burn marks, reduce the heat to medium and add the onions and garlic.

4. When the onions become translucent, add the tomatoes. Cook for 2-3 mins.

5. Add the turmeric, ground chilies and salt. We added a pinch of red chili powder to crank up the heat even more ;) Mexican cooking uses Palillo turmeric which we didnt have, so, we used regular Indian turmeric powder.

6. Add the black beans and stir well. Cook for another 5-7 mins.

7. Turn off the gas and add the rice. Make sure the rice is cooled before you add it to the beans otherwise things might get a bit sticky and soggy.

Mix well. Garnish with some finely chopped cilantro leaves, a dollop of sour cream and dig in!

We chose the veggies in such a way that we get the whole 'smoky' experience from the rice. The dried chilies certainly add that 'Mexican' touch to the rice. But I think the taste of the bell peppers and the black beans also add the to whole smoky experience. You could always throw in a dash of BBQ sauce to kick the 'smokiness' up a notch :)

We contribute our affair with black beans to Susan of the Well Seasoned Cook for her ever growing love for legumes (MLLA event) :)