Rice and Beans
Rice and beans with a choice of beef, chicken, pork, lobster, shrimp, or game meat are one of the most essential foods in the local cuisine, even reaching the status of national dish. Recado (a spice created from annatto seed, a local plant with a distinctive deep red color) and garlic are used to cook the meat.
The beef can be grilled, stewed, or fried. When the meat is stewed, the gravy is generously ladled over the rice and beans. When ordering Rice & Beans with meat, such as whole or filleted fried fish, it's a good idea to ask for meat or chicken gravy to be ladled over the rice and beans, otherwise, the rice and legumes may be too dry. This is a sinfully delicious dish that will make you put your diet on hold.
Coconut milk is used to prepare Belize Rice and Beans. When in season, fresh Habanero, onion, and lime juice sauce are served over potato salad and ripe fried or baked plantain. The traditional Belizean cuisine is rice and beans.
Ingredients
- ½ onion, diced, ½ red bell pepper, chopped, dried kidney beans, garlic cloves, minced, 1 tsp vegetable oil, 1 cup white rice, coconut milk, and water
Instructions
- Cover kidney beans with several inches of lukewarm water in a big container and let aside for 8 hours to overnight. Drain.
- Toss the beans with the onion, red bell pepper, vegetable oil, salt, and black pepper.
- In a saucepan over low heat, toast and stir rice for 3 minutes, or until fragrant.
- Bring to a boil the coconut milk, water, and kidney beans.
- Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, or until rice is tender.
