Amazingly Flavorful Haitian Rice and Beans

Haitian rice and beans or Riz National (diri ak pwa) is an absolutely magical dish.  Every time I make this dish for friends they go crazy over it!  I don't make it often, but among those I've made it for, it is undoubtedly one of my most popular dishes.  This dish is irresistible to picky eaters, dieters, even the anorexic--proven fact.   If you are struggling to get someone to eat, let this one be your go-to.  If you've never tried Haitian food, this is probably the best introductory dish--it's very Haitian food 101.

When I lived at the Spanish House in undergrad, I made this dish and the guys were practically fighting over it!  One of them was licking his fingers and everything!  Yes, it is just that good.  I don't know that I've tried a more flavorful rice than this one.  The smell of this dish is rich and divine.  I remember I used to have a Haitian neighbor in Miami who would cook with the kitchen window open, and the smell of that rice as I walked by in the evening was so intoxicating!  The cloves may sound odd, but it's really no different than the Jamaican addition of allspice (another sweet spice that Americans typically use in desserts) to their meats and rices.  It just provides some added depth and richness.

Before you start, bear in mind that you must leave the hot pepper whole.  It will depress and release its juices into the food during cooking, however, it is traditionally left whole for a reason.  If you chop an entire scotch bonnet or habanero for this dish, it will be far too spicy and even inedible.

Ingredients
- 1 cup of long grain white rice, washed and drained
- 1 can of red beans or 1 cup precooked beans and juice, strained with juice reserved
- 3 slices thick-cut bacon (or equivalent in chopped salt pork)
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 pack of Sazon Goya Culantro y Achiote (found in Latin foods aisle in supermarket)
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 3 or 4 sprigs fresh parsley
- 6 whole cloves
- 1 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper (whole with stem removed.  Do NOT chop.  It's entirely too spicy) (half a cherry pepper with seeds is a nice substitute)

- 2 TB butter + oil to sautee veggies in and for flavoring rice.

- 3 cups water and/or bean juice (from can or from freshly cooked beans)

- salt to taste (about 1 TB)
- pepper to taste

Procedure
1. Fry bacon in a pan until crisp in a deep pan or medium pot.  Crumble or chop and set aside.

2 Sautee onions in the bacon pan with butter and oil, adding garlic in toward the end to avoid burning.

3. Stir in herbs and cloves and bacon.  Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

4. Stir in dry seasonings and water, bean juice, and beans.

5. Bring all ingredients to a boil over medium heat.  Once boiling, stir in rice and add hot pepper.

6. Boil over medium heat, stirring continuously, until water is mostly evaporated.  At this point, cover and reduce to low heat.  Allow to simmer 20 minutes over low heat (do not remove cover).

7. Fluff and blend rice with a fork and serve, ideally with meat and fried green plantains (banane peze).

Nicaraguan Fajita with rice

Hi guys!

I wanted to share a quick recipe I made this weekend. This recipe is uber easy, full of flavor, and is surprisingly low in fat. The meat used is very lean and the red peppers used are packed with vitamins. Red peppers are among the highest sources of vitamin C and actually have three times the vitamin C of their green counterparts. It is not at all a bad habit to choose your foods based on color. Foods that are orange, yellow, or red, tend to be higher in vitamin C and beta carotene, while dark leafy greens, for example, are rich in fiber, folic acid, potassium, and magnesium, and are surprisingly high in vitamin C. Folic acid and potassium are especially important in the diets of women. Women who have adequate amounts of folic acid in their diets both before and during pregnancy significantly decrease the risk of birth defects. Potassium also plays a key role in cardiovascular and bone health, as well as muscle contraction.

Pregnant women often experience an increase in the frequency of charlie horses because of an increased need for potassium. If you find yourself getting charlie horses often, it is typically due to potassium deficiency. Try to eat a banana for the moment to help it. Also, try to increase your overall consumption of foods such as leafy greens and bananas, as well as beans, which are all good sources of potassium, as a permanent solution to frequent muscle cramping. So whether you are pregnant, have high blood pressure, or frequent muscle cramps, being intentional about incorporating more of these foods into your diet may be just what the doctor ordered.

Below you will find some useful websites for further reading on the topic of potassium and folic acid and their roles in the health of our body's systems.

http://www.marchofdimes.com/pregnancy/folicacid_before.html
http://www.vegetarian-nutrition.info/updates/benefits-of-green-leafy-vegetables.php
http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/folic-acid.cfm#b
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/potassium-000320.htm
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/potassium-000320.htm

Here are some regarding the relationship of fruit and vegetable color to vitamin and mineral content:
http://www.fruitandveggieguru.com/ExtraSections/ProduceandYourHealth/NutritionInColor/tabid/91/Default.aspx
http://ezinearticles.com/?Choosing-the-Best-Fruits-and-Vegetables---Why-Color-Counts!&id=5165572

I hope you enjoy this deliciously tasty recipe that I've adapted from Nicaragua en mi Sazon with Maria Esther.

Fajita Nicaraguense (Nicaraguan Fajita)

Ingredients:
1 lb of top round steak, sliced into strips and marinated for 1 hour - overnight

Meat marinade
2 cloves, smashed into a paste or grated
2 TB Worcestershire sauce
Salt (maybe a teaspoon or so)

Vegetables:
½ onion, julienned
bell pepper*, julienned (use what you like. I used green and red (red is among the best sources of vit. C)
Celery, ½ cup*
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt

*the measurements for the celery and bell pepper really don’t matter. Simply go by your own preference. I just provided approximate measurements for any novice cooks out there.

! TB of vinegar (any type you like, I used white)
3 TB water

Procedure:
In a very lightly greased pan (either with non-stick spray or by spreading the oil over the pan with a napkin) sautee the onion over medium heat until softened. This will not take but a few minutes. Since there Is very little oil, it will not become transparent. At this point, add in the other vegetables, including the garlic, toss, and cook until they start to soften. Once the vegetables are slightly softened, add in the vinegar, water, and salt to taste, lower the heat to low and cook until desired doneness.

Meanwhile, in a separate pan over medium heat, greased in the same manner, cook the beef. Be sure to cook the meat in a single layer so that all of the meat cooks properly. This means that, depending on the size of the pan, you may do two or three panfuls of meat. With this in mind, start cooking the meat when you start the veggies off.
Once everything is done. Toss the veggies and meat together and enjoy!

I had mine with Nicaraguan-style white rice, which I tried for the first time. There really was a significant difference in flavor that I very much enjoyed. The rice was very flavorful and had that slight tanginess that I always enjoy in Nicaraguan food. What makes it Nicaraguan style is that it is toasted first, but not everyone seasons it with garlic and green pepper.  The recipe is below.

Nicaraguan-style White Rice

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups of long grain white rice, rinsed (swish it around in a pot of cool water with your hand then drain the water. Repeat one to three times until the water is almost but not all the way clear.
2-1/2 cups of water (I don’t like the 1:2 ratio of rice to water. It is too wet for me.)
1 slice of green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 slice of onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 TB butter, olive oil, or half a TB of each (this usually turns out nicely)
Juice of ½ lime
A pinch of salt

Procedure
Gently stir all of the ingredients together in a medium-sized pot. Bring the rice to a boil, stirring. Once it boils, cover it and take the heat down to low. Let the rice steam on low for 20 minutes. Do not open the pot during this time. Remove from heat and let steam for another 10 minutes. Again, do not open the pot. Once the 10 minutes are up, fluff and enjoy!

Locrio de costillitas - Dominican rice with spare rib tips

Yum, yum, yum!! Locrio is one of my favorite Dominican dishes. It is a red rice cooked with some sort of meat (chicken, spare rib tips, longaniza (a type of sausage), or even spicy sardines (pica pica)). It's always very flavorful and delicious! I didn't have much cubanelle pepper around (the sweet pepper that is typically used), so I used two small serranos (about 2 teaspoons - 1 TB, depending on how much spiciness you like) and about 1 teaspoon cubanelle pepper. This dish is not normally spicy, so if you have to go to the store anyway, you can make the choice to make it spicy or not. Use a whole cubanelle if you make it the traditional way. I hope you all enjoy this dish as much as I do!

3 cloves of garlic (two is fine if they are the gigantic cloves I've been seeing lately)

1 onion chopped

1 TB + 1 tsp tomato paste (sauce is NOT a substitute)

1 stalk of cilantro (chopped)

1 stalk of parsley (chopped)

1 teaspoon celery leaf (if available) (chopped)

a pinch of dried oregano

adobo (there are different Goya Adobo varities, but use the one with the blue top)

Baldom Dominican sazon (if available, otherwise, use more adobo)

crushed black pepper to taste (probably about 1 teaspoon)

1/2 TB salt

1lb to 1.5 lbs spare rib tips (cut into pieces with 1-2 of the small vertical bone pieces each - as close to equal size pieces as possible)

2 cups of long grain white rice

3.5 cups water

Tips:

This method of cooking rice produces a nice layer of crispier rice on the bottm (this is the intended result. In Dominican cooking, it is prepared in a nonstick pan to get a crispier rice on the bottom. As most Americans are not accustomed to this (although I really enjoy it), you may want to make an effort to prepare it in a nonstick pan the first time to see how you like that first. When cooked in a nonstick pan, this crispier layer (referred to as "concon" in Spanish - the most desirable part of the rice in Dominican cooking) acquires a tasty, lightly nutty flavor.

To place the cooked rice in serving dishes. Spoon the softer rice off (without scraping off the crispy rice) and place in one bowl. Spoon off the bottom layer of crispier rice and place in a separate smaller bowl.

Preparation:

Season each piece of the spare rib tips with generously with salt, Dominican sazon, adobo, and dried oregano. Set aside. wash and drain rice (move it around with your hand in a large bowl of water until water becomes white). Season dry rice with about 2 teaspoons to one TB adobo and the 1/2 TB salt in the list of ingredients. set aside.

Place the garlic and onions (not the herbs yet) in a skillet (the one you want to cook the rice in) with about 1/2 TB - 1TB extra virgin olive oil until they are translucent.

Toward the end of the process, add in the tomato paste and sautee mixture with it for about 1 min, along with oregano and fresh herbs.

Once the vegetables are done sauteeing, turn the heat up to medium and add the ribs, being sure to cover them well in the adobo mixture as you cook them.

Let the meat brown on all sides. Add enough water to cover bottom of pan, cover pot well and let it cook for a few minutes to lightly stew meat. Once water evaporates, add rice and add 3.5 cups water.

Cook rice (UNCOVERED) over medium to medium high heat (the least it takes to get a boil), stirring CONSTANTLY. Continue stirring until all of the water evaporates.

Once the water has evaporated, spread rice and meat evenly over bottom of pan. Cover tightly and take temperature down to low.

Let the rice cook on low for exactly 20 min (do NOT check the rice or remove the top for any reason). Remove from heat.

Let the rice sit for 5-10 minutes and enjoy!

Most people like to enjoy this dish with a splash of fresh lime juice and sliced avocado on the side, but of course it's delicious just as it is!

References: http://www.mis-recetas.org/recetas/show/4008-locrio-de-costillitas-de-cerdo

Fruit and Nut Rice

I tried a similar dish in the most unlikely of places and I absolutely loved it and so did a friend of mine. I actually tried it at UVa's dining hall, where the food is usually downright depressing, but every now and then they have a nice surprise. In their version, there was a mixture of dried apricots, raisins, prunes, and dates. Since a bag of dried fruit you won't use otherwise is pretty pricey, I settled for what I had in the house--raisins and prunes (prunes are very tasty, by the way. Of course you can't eat too many ;)

Fruit and Nut Rice
1 cup long grain white rice
2 small boxes of raisins (1/2 oz - I believe this is just one box Sunmaid)
about 1/4 cup slivered or sliced almond or a mixture
about 6 pieces or so of large dried fruits, such as apricots or prunes. Dates would work well also. (do not cut them because the skin will boil off and it's much better to just cut it on ur plate if you need to)
1 sprig of thyme
1TB cinnamon (dominant flavor)
2 teaspoons allspice (maybe a third one. This should be one of the dominant flavors)
5 cloves
1/2 TB coriander
1/2 to 1TB salt
2 TB onion
1 clove garlic (you don't need more, the spices should dominate in this dish)
5-10 peppercorns crushed in mortar and pestle, depending on desired spiciness (or use regular crushed, but it's a lot less spicy)
1 TB grated coconut (preferably unsweetened, but I used sweetened and it was fine)
1-1/2 cups chicken broth (beef would likely work well also)
1/2 TB oil
1/2 TB butter

I cooked my rice with 1-1/4 cups broth using the uncovered method that's typical in Dominican cooking, but I think this dish is actually better covered since there isn't much in it to make it as moist as rice dishes with meat in them. The Dominican style is to cook the rice uncovered on medium, stirring constantly until all of the water evaporates. After this, you cover and cook on low for 20 minutes. This creates a drier, more separated rice and can sometimes create a nice crust on the bottom and/or sides of the pot (which is desired in Dominican cooking). In the case of plain white rice, I love this method. I think it's also great for rices prepared with coconut milk instead of water or broth and it also works well with rice and meat dishes like Locrio because of the extra moisture/fat from the coconut milk and meat respectively. In the case of this dish, the typical method or a rice cooker is just fine. In this method, bring rice to a boil over medium heat while stirring it constantly, then you cover it for 20 minutes over low heat (#2 on numbered stove dials). Whatever you do, do NOT uncover your rice in this method until you have let it sit for 10 minutes AFTER it has cooked for 20. This way, all excess moisture evaporates and rice continues to cook to perfection.

Enjoy and let me know how it turns out!