Casado

This recipe is adapted from a traditional Costa Rican rice and beans dish! We make this from dry beans with an Instant Pot, which does require a bit more planning, but the taste is SO much better than using canned beans.

Medium Effort - 20 mins | 3-4 servings

Ingredients

2 cups - dried black beans*
Spices for beans:
- 1 Tbsp - fresh ground cumin (we recommend grinding yourself from whole seeds if possible...very tasty!)
- 1 tsp - paprika
- 2 cloves - fresh garlic
- salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup - dry rice (basmati or jasmine)
1/2 Tbsp - concentrated veggie broth (bouillon cubes)*
1 Tbsp- olive oil
2 - tomatoes
2 - avocados
Spices for the end:
- Fresh black pepper, to taste
- Salt, to taste
Other optional add-ons:
- lemon juice
- olive oil
- arugula, kale or brussels sprouts (if you want more greens)
- your fave hot sauce

Equipment Needed:

Instant Pot (pressure cooker)

*If you want a slightly simpler recipe, you can use canned black beans (2 cans - 16 oz) + 1 Tbsp oil instead of dry beans, veggie broth instead of bouillon, and garlic powder instead of fresh garlic.

Directions

Pre-work (at least 4 hours ahead of time)

Pre-soak the black beans by putting in a medium sized pot and fill water to 2 inches above the beans
Bring the water and beans to a boil, then remove from heat and let sit for 4 hours or more

Cooking

Strain the water out of the black beans and refill with clean water, swishing around to rinse
Drain the freshly added water and rinse the beans one more time
Pour the beans and spices into the Instant Pot
Fill the pot with about 4 cups of water (doesn’t have to be exact, it’s like boiling pasta)
Set the Instant Pot vent to "sealing", and set on "pressure cook - low" for 12 minutes
Meanwhile, cook the rice with veggie broth instead of just water (see Rice prep step)
Once the timer goes off (beeping) hit Cancel and let sit for a few minutes to release pressure
Drain water from beans and drizzle on olive oil
Dice tomatoes and cut avocado, greens and place in dish with beans and rice, add salt and lemon juice to taste

TAGS: vegan, vegetarian, black beans, rice, instant pot, costa rican, mexican