Re-fried Beans and Spanish Rice

     When you have had a week like I just had you hardly want to get out of bed let alone cook a meal for your house.  It is times like these it is really handy to have a few 'boil' recipes, things where the main step is just boiling, not a lot of chopping or sauteing or mixing . . .just boil.  Of course it should still be tasty and well balanced but hey sometimes the best I can do is not as balanced as I would like.

    My 'go-to' boil recipe is re-fried beans and cheater Spanish rice.

Re-fried Beans

5 C dry pinto beans

2 Tbs garlic powder

2 Tbs spike (powdered vegetable stock)

1 Tbs salt

1 Tbs cumin

5 Tbs oil

You dont have to soak the beans before hand but it helps, a lot.  These beans soaked for close to 5 hrs before I started cooking them in a pressure cooker.  I know a lot of people are frightened of pressure cookers or were not at one point but then had one 'explode'.  I was worried the first time I used a pressure cooker because I heard the 'explode' stories and was like 'woah what do you mean?'  turns out you have to be pretty careless to have a pressure cooker get out of control and even when ti does it mostly sprays hot water around and is not dangerous unless you are in the way.  The point is a well monitored pressure cooker will never get out of hand.  The science behind a pressure cooker can be understood from the phase diagram of water. Arc AC is the boil line for water and the normal boiling point (nbp) occurs at 100 C.  By increasing the pressure above one atmosphere (using a tight lid) the water temperature follows along the curve and the water temperature increases above what is normally considered the  maximum temperature of water.  This decreases cooking time for beans and grains and all kinds of vegetables . .. really you can cook anything in a pressure cooker. . .but I like to poke at things so I typically only do beans.  

For re-fried beans we want to over cook them.  The soaked beans go into the pressure cooker with enough water to cover the beans (if you did not soak the beans make sure it is nearly double the water because beans soak up a lot of water).  clamp down the lid and put the heat on high!  When the pressure builds up the pressure cooker will start to whistle, that is a good thing.  We want the pressure cooker to be right at that pressure where it can barely push the valve open (not the safety valve the regulator valve which is usually just a weight on top).   Turn down the heat and just let the thing simmer along for an hour plus . . . remember we want the beans over cooked so dont watch the clock too closely, but do pay attention if your pot stops hissing turn the temp up just a bit.  

While the beans cook the rice gets started and gives about 45 minutes of down time in meal prep.  Usually this is where I would make something else but today I just hid under the blankets until it was time to check on the rice and beans.

More than half the time I open the pressure cooker early and have to heat things back up. . . since this is a problem I have I dont like to wait for the thing to cool down so I can open it (safety mechanism) so I put the whole pot in the sink and run cool water over it until I hear that hiss click of the drop in pressure releasing the lock.  This time I was lazy enough and the beans were all tender and mushy PERFECT! I dump off about half the water that is still in the pot (you could do all but then you need more oil).

When I first learned about making re-fried beans I was told 'use a lot of salt and a lot of oil . . .dont be scared of it just use it'  and it is true!  A high fat content in your re-fried beans will help create a smooth and creamy texture that is awesome but I dont enjoy an excess of oil so I use some water to get the consistency I like.  These days instead of going with salt only  I use powdered vegetable bouillon which adds a salty sensation and a nice flavor.  Toss in all the spices (I am sure you can use fresh garlic but again for the right texture I go with powders) the oil and with the water you saved just mash them!  You can use a mixer or any other device but my favorite is the hand masher.   I dont know maybe I am old fashioned or maybe I like to feel like I have to labor for my food but it is what I like.

Taste them, add more spices as you like (cayenne is a good one but feel free to get creative and play with flavors like cinnamon and chipotle).  Serve hot and with a tortilla and rice.  

Spanish Rice

3 C short grain brown rice

6 C water

1 Tbs garlic powder

2 Tbs paprika

2 tsp spike

1 tsp salt

2 Tbs hot sauce (tapatio) 

This is my lazy version of Spanish rice, normally i would use tomatoes and fresh peppers and sauteed onions  . ..nah not today.  We got the paprika for color the garlic and vegetable stock powder for flavor and the Tapatilo for a little kick.  

Toss everything in bring it to a boil.  Cover with a well fitting lid and reduce the heat to a simmer for 45 minutes.

Yeah that is it. . .though there is one catch.  I always find that tossing in the extra spices and hot sauce before the rice is cooked rather than using ti like a dressing after or treating the process more like a risotto leaves my cook time a little off.  We want to make sure all of the water naturally boils off leaving a red sauce behind without burning the dish or leaving the rice under cooked.  At the 45 min mark I check the rice and since it is tasty and soft on top I leave the lid off while the rest of the water steams off.

Using a wooden spoon I will carefully move rice at one edge aside to make sure all of the liquid is gone. . . you dont want to go just mixing the rice all around or you will get more starch into the water and your whole dish will come out more mushy and kinda soggy instead of light and almost fluffy with a sauce.    Once the water is gone then you can toss the rice and let the excess steam out, just remember be patient, dont go fluffing your rice before it is time or it will not fluff.  As long as you dont smell burning it can sit at a low temp slowly cooking out the water . . .but once it gets close to done keep an eye on it because even a little bit of burn will toss off the taste.  

To round out the meal we made a cabbage salad and served it all with a warm tortilla.  Considering I spent 45 minutes of my 2 hrs cooking under a blanket in the corner I am pretty pleased with the meal!