Jamaican Beans or better yet "Peas"
As many of you know, it's an understatement to say that rice and beans is a staple in my house. Varieties of dried beans and brown rice line my shelves so that on any given morning I can snag some and start soaking for later that evening.
People always ask us if we get bored of rice and beans, but with so many superfabulous varieties to chose from, who could get bored? I make a macrobiotic version with adzuki beans and brown sweet rice, a Spanish version with kidneys and red rice, an Indian version with garbanzos and brown basmati...I could go on.
Last week I decided to make a Jamaican version. Richie is a humungoid fan of anything Jamaican (yes let your imaginations wonder). He was born on the day Bob Marley passed and loves to tell me he is the incarnation... Whenever we can get away on a family or solo vacation it's always to Jamaica (check us out here and here and here). Richie's favorite greens are callaloo. You get the picture.
So last week I tried beans Jamaican style and they came out pretty darn tasty! Here's how I did it:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of heirloom beans (you can use any beans, but I happened to have these gorgeous heirlooms in my pantry that I decided to use), soaked overnight then rinsed
- 1 can of organic coconut milk (you can use light or regular, whichever you prefer according to consistency desired, light will produce a more liquidy bean dish)
- 4-6 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 small scotch bonnet or hot pepper of your choice, seeded and diced
- water
- Place all the ingredients into a Vitaclay or other cooker or into a heavy bottomed pot.
- Cover with water to 1" over the beans.
- Bring to a boil then simmer for 2-3 hours or until the beans are nice and soft.
- Serve over brown rice (I like turmeric brown rice with this with a dash of cinnamon in it)...also makes great leftovers the next day!