I had some free brown rice to use. I knew there had to be a beans and rice recipe out there for that. The last three ingredients of the first recipe I saw included dry sherry, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. That was a combination I needed to try.
I was going to scale the recipe up and some of the numbers just didn’t look right. For example it wanted so much onion that it would overload the recipe. I took the picture of the mise en place after cutting the onion in half and knowing that the three ingredients are the end were definitely going to need adjustments. I ended up doubling all but the soy sauce just before serving.
It’s getting harder to trust recipes.
But was I able to get it to work? Yes.
Cost per person: $2.45, a little more than the bread and butter.
There’s a reason “beans and rice” is a cliche for the diet of “The Poors.”
It’s relatively cheap, will keep you alive, and relatively healthy.
That’s the goal. I broke out one of my Indian cookbooks today to see if I could find something In the rice and beans category that offer the balance protein profile, but also add a lot more flavor than we would typically find in an American rice and beans dish.
But I’m going to have to get some money before fully doing that because I need to hit up the Super G and stock up on ginger and curry leaves. So I’m still in the research phase.
Chickpea curry is delicious. Americans probably call chickpeas something else.
These days they are known as chickpeas, but they used to be known as garbanzo beans. We have a very sad past.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m shitting on it. There are many variations of “Beans and Rice” that are delicious.
I’m just saying it can keep you alive and healthy, cheaply.
Edit: I meant NOT shitting on it.