Carribean Rice and Beans

2 cups dry pigeon beans, pinto beans, or kidney beans
6 cups water
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp oil or butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 green onions, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 Tbsp lime juice (optional)
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups rice

1. Soak beans overnight in water and salt.
2. Bring beans to a boil in soaking liquid (do not drain), reduce heat, and simmer just until tender - about 40 minutes. Drain beans, reserving liquid.
3. Heat oil or butter in large covered skillet. Add garlic, green onions, tomato, lime juice (optional), cloves, parsley, pepper, and drained beans. Saute about 5 minutes.
4. Add rice and 4 cups reserved bean liquid (add water if necessary). Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to simmer, and cook 20-25 minutes wihout stirring.

Try #1 - April 30, 2011
This was good, a nice and subtle twist on regular beans and rice. I followed the recipe for soaking and cooking the beans (I used pinto), and they cooked in about 40 minutes, like it said. I used a regular onion instead of green onions, canned tomatoes instead of fresh (about 1 cup), dried parsley, and white rice. I accidentally doubled the amount of cloves to 1/4 tsp, but it worked out ok. My reserve bean liquid yielded 2 cups so I had to add 2 cups of water. This was nothing super fancy, but it was a nice change from plain old beans and rice, and it made a TON (good for leftovers; we also used it as a side for tacos later in the week). I'd make it again.

Try #2 - May 31, 2011
The beans cooked in about 30 minutes this time, but the rice took longer than 20 minutes - more like 30. It wasn't a problem for me to lift the lid after 20 minutes, test and see that the rice was still hard, and replace the lid to let it cook another 10 minutes or so (I also turned up the heat at this time). Used fresh parsley this time, and the correct amount of cloves. :)