(no subject)
Aug. 12th, 2005 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickAnd, since it's at least possible that some of you are here for my stellar *English* prose as opposed to my rather skiffy Japanese prose, here's how to make black beans and rice with salsa on the side.
Black beans and rice, home-made salsa cruda (pretty much AKA pico de gallo) on the side.
Black beans: In crock pot (You do have one, right? Of course you do.) combine 1 1-lb bag black turtle beans (rinsed and picked over) and half a really big white onion (chopped) and two bay leaves and about half a teaspoon of ground cumin and maybe four or five cloves of garlic, crushed. Add water until crock pot is full. Put on high, add lid, allow to cook (adding water if necessary) until beans are tender. Look for something about the texture of baked beans. If too runny, leave lid off for a while. If too dry, add more water. Makes lots, freezes well. (Gung-ho meat eaters can add hot italian sausage to this while it's cooking and not lose a whole lot of authenticity. I am not a gung-ho meat eater. Persons wanting hotter black beans can wave the tabasco over the crock pot or throw in some chili powder of their choosing. I prefer the hotness to come from the salsa portion of the program.)
Serve the black beans over cooked white rice (the default white rice at my house is sushi rice because I like it best, but you can use whatever you have, even (I am closing my eyes and pretending not to see this) instant rice) with salsa on the side. If you really want to impress people, you can make rice yellow by adding a bit of tumeric to the water while it's cooking. Turmeric (which of course you have in the spice cupboard) makes a lovely yellow at a fraction of the cost of saffron.
You can use jar salsa, and in the wintertime, that's what I do. However, it's August. If you live in a temperate northern-hemisphere climate, it's probably tomato season where you are. If that's the case, you really should consider making fresh. It's a LOT better. Lots. Tons. A huge amount better. And, y'know, it's not got any actual cooking involved. You don't really measure. You don't have to add heat. You chop and stir, which is easy enough that everyone can probably do it without sucking.
Salsa cruda (or pico de gallo)
In large bowl, combine...
some white onion (chopped), maybe a third of a cup
small handful fresh cilantro (chopped)
two cloves garlic (pressed)
half a jalapeno (pressed with your garlic press if you have a beefy one like I do. Minced with a knife if you don't have a beefy garlic press)
(Remove pith and seeds if you want a less-hot jalapeno experience, as that's where most of the heat is contained.)
Ripe tomatoes. Ripe ones. Two roma or one large normal. (I use about twice as much tomato (by volume) as onion bits.)
Juice of one lime. Fresh, please, not that shit they sell in bottles for mixed drinks. Buy a damn lime and squeeze it.
Salt.
(To make a quite passable guacamole, you can add one ripe avocado, mashed up pretty well with a fork, for each tomato you've used in the salsa cruda. Guacamole does not contain sour cream in any reality I frequent.)
Black beans and rice, home-made salsa cruda (pretty much AKA pico de gallo) on the side.
Black beans: In crock pot (You do have one, right? Of course you do.) combine 1 1-lb bag black turtle beans (rinsed and picked over) and half a really big white onion (chopped) and two bay leaves and about half a teaspoon of ground cumin and maybe four or five cloves of garlic, crushed. Add water until crock pot is full. Put on high, add lid, allow to cook (adding water if necessary) until beans are tender. Look for something about the texture of baked beans. If too runny, leave lid off for a while. If too dry, add more water. Makes lots, freezes well. (Gung-ho meat eaters can add hot italian sausage to this while it's cooking and not lose a whole lot of authenticity. I am not a gung-ho meat eater. Persons wanting hotter black beans can wave the tabasco over the crock pot or throw in some chili powder of their choosing. I prefer the hotness to come from the salsa portion of the program.)
Serve the black beans over cooked white rice (the default white rice at my house is sushi rice because I like it best, but you can use whatever you have, even (I am closing my eyes and pretending not to see this) instant rice) with salsa on the side. If you really want to impress people, you can make rice yellow by adding a bit of tumeric to the water while it's cooking. Turmeric (which of course you have in the spice cupboard) makes a lovely yellow at a fraction of the cost of saffron.
You can use jar salsa, and in the wintertime, that's what I do. However, it's August. If you live in a temperate northern-hemisphere climate, it's probably tomato season where you are. If that's the case, you really should consider making fresh. It's a LOT better. Lots. Tons. A huge amount better. And, y'know, it's not got any actual cooking involved. You don't really measure. You don't have to add heat. You chop and stir, which is easy enough that everyone can probably do it without sucking.
Salsa cruda (or pico de gallo)
In large bowl, combine...
some white onion (chopped), maybe a third of a cup
small handful fresh cilantro (chopped)
two cloves garlic (pressed)
half a jalapeno (pressed with your garlic press if you have a beefy one like I do. Minced with a knife if you don't have a beefy garlic press)
(Remove pith and seeds if you want a less-hot jalapeno experience, as that's where most of the heat is contained.)
Ripe tomatoes. Ripe ones. Two roma or one large normal. (I use about twice as much tomato (by volume) as onion bits.)
Juice of one lime. Fresh, please, not that shit they sell in bottles for mixed drinks. Buy a damn lime and squeeze it.
Salt.
(To make a quite passable guacamole, you can add one ripe avocado, mashed up pretty well with a fork, for each tomato you've used in the salsa cruda. Guacamole does not contain sour cream in any reality I frequent.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Frijoles negros y arroz con salsa cruda
Date: 2005-08-14 03:03 am (UTC)1. Half-pound to pound of hot italian sausage.
2. Sausage can be removed from casing, browned, drained, and added. Removing it from the casing eliminates the casing, which some people find to be objectionable. I sort of like the chunks with the casing, but the browning of the meat prior to adding it to the black beans is easier if out of the casing. Browning and draining obviously removes some fat, healthifying the meal a little.
3. The stuff can be put into the crock pot the night before you plan to eat it for dinner, set on low overnight and during the day, and then be ready when you come home from work, assuming something like an ordinary schedule.
4. A little grated cheese is nice with the beans/rice/salsa. Sometimes some shredded Romaine is nice, too, for added color and texture. Esp. when eaten (as suggested below) with corn tortillas.
5. Basmati goes nicely with the meal on the rice end of things.
6. Rolling and pressing the lime before cutting it makes the juice come out more easily.
7. Get an extra lime in the winter time -- if you make the salsa with cardboard winter tomatoes, you'll need a little extra juice. During summer, you need a little less, so sometimes a whole lime can make the salsa a little runny.
8. A few "leafs" of cilantro over the top makes the meal more presentable for company.
9. Leftovers can be frozen (as alluded to in the original post). Putting some into a quart freezer bag and leaving it flat in the freezer makes a nicely packed, easily stored leftover meal. (Technique adapted from which_chick, btw).
10. Day old beans/rice/salsa make a nice wrap/burrito when put into a flour tortilla.
11. When serving fresh, corn tortillas (warmed) are a nice side.
12. A little corn in the salsa during the sweet corn season in the summer can be nice. There are other salsa variations to be found all over the place, but corn is about as strange as I have gotten with it.
13. The meal is a good comfort food for summer and winter, though it is not really a good "date" meal as it is messy and garlicky.