Slowcooker Cuban Beans and Rice

Extra post today! My blogging friend Steph at The Cheapskate Cook asked me to participate in her Beans and Rice series.  Check out her blog for some frugal recipes and tips!  Here was my contribution-Cuban Beans and Rice cooked in the slowcooker.

I just got a new cookbook (can you ever have too many?) “Healthy Everyday Food” from Cooking Light and I had highlighted this recipe to try, “Cuban Beans and Rice”.  It stuck out for a couple of reasons.  First, I’ve wanted to try cooking dry beans.  I’ll admit, I usually buy the canned style. Second, I love cooking in my slow cooker.  And third, I really haven’t met a recipe with cumin in it that I haven’t liked!

I followed the recipe pretty closely-I’ll point out what I did differently below.  I hope you’ll give this a try.  It’s delicious, low cal, good protein, good fiber content and pretty easy.  I like the texture of these beans soooooo much more than canned beans.

Cuban Beans and Rice

Adapted from Healthy Everyday Food from Cooking Light, 2009, Oxmoor House

Ingredients:

1 pound dried black beans

2 cups water

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups chopped onion

1 ½ cups chopped red bell pepper

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

2 TBSP olive oil

3 tsp salt

2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp dried oregano

2 TBSP sherry or red wine vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)

2 (10 oz) cans diced tomatoes and green chiles, drained (I missed the part about draining but I don’t think it mattered)

5 cups hot cooked rice (I made enough brown rice for two meals)

Hot sauce (optional) (I didn’t use)

I also used:

 fresh lime juice (from 1 lime)

2 TBSP non-fat plain greek yogurt

2 TBSP chopped cilantro

Method:

Sort and wash beans; place in a large bowl.  Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; cover and let stand 8 hours (I did this at bedtime and soaked them overnight-about 12 hours).  Drain beans.

Combine beans, 2 cups water, and next 10 ingredients (through oregano) in an electric slow cooker.  Cover and cook on HIGH for 5 hours or until beans are tender. 

Stir in vinegar and tomatoes.  (I cooked on high 1 hour, low 8 hours, added the vinegar and tomatoes and cooked another hour on low).

Serve over (brown) rice. Sprinkle with hot sauce if desired.  (I added a dollop of non-fat plain greek yogurt, fresh lime juice, and sprinkles of cilantro.  Didn’t need any more heat for our palate.  There was a fair bit of liquid remaining).

Yield: 10 servings of 1 cup beans and ½ cup rice.  Calories 314, fat 3.3 grams, protein 12.1 grams, carbs 58.3 grams

 
When the bean mixture had cooled I put ½ of it in a freezer bag and froze it with a small amount of the “gravy”.

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