Cuban Black Beans & Rice

• servings: 2 medium bowls
• total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

1⁄2 cup brown rice

1⁄4 cup water

1 onion

1 green pepper

2 cloves garlic

4 cups spinach

2 tomatoes

1 can no-salt canned black beans

2 t cumin

2 t dried oregano

1⁄2 t cinnamon

1 lime

Optional

2 t salt-free chili powder

Directions

Add the dry rice to a pot. You will need 2.5 times as much water as rice. Add water to the pot, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 35-45 minutes or until the water is absorbed and the rice is soft. Check on the rice periodically to prevent any sticking or burning on the bottom. Remove from the heat, fluff with a fork, and set aside. Looking for a faster option? Cook in a rice cooker or just use pre-cooked/frozen rice.

Produce Prep: Dice the onion. Rinse the green pepper and remove the insides and stem. Dice the green pepper into small pieces. Mince the garlic. Give the spinach and tomato a rough chop. Drain and rinse the canned black beans.

Add a dash of water to a pan or wok, and bring up to medium-low heat. Sweat the onion for a few minutes.

Add the chili powder, cumin, dried oregano and cinnamon and heat for 1 minute while stirring continuously. We suggest using less chili powder and then increasing to taste preference during Step 5.

Add the tomato, garlic, green pepper, water, and beans to the pan and heat for 10 minutes on medium heat.

Turn off the heat and add the chopped spinach to the pan, stirring it in so it's gently cooked by the heat of the beans. Serve over brown rice with a squeeze of fresh lime, a touch of salt and added pepper to taste. While it's not necessary, we love adding some hot sauce, cayenne pepper or pickled jalapeños to this dish.

Notes

This dish is packed with great flavors, but the stock and variety of spices at different grocery stores can vary widely. If you're missing a spice, play test kitchen! Try adding a tad more of the other spices and taste test until it's just right for you. Was the store out of spinach? Any hardy green will work here in its place.

Choosing Rice

Choose varieties of brown rice with lowest risk of arsenic content, such as Basmati rice sourced from California, India, and Pakistan, or Jasmine rice from Thailand. To be extra safe, cook rice at a 6:1 ratio of water to rice then drain, which can reduce arsenic by 40%.

Kid-Friendly Tip

Pru, our official 6-year old taste-tester, loves beans and brown rice for dinner above almost anything. But, she doesn't love the onions and spices. If your child is like Pru, they may prefer this dish simplified. Just add a small portion of the beans and green pepper to a separate pan and heat with a little bit of olive oil and salt, then add the brown rice before plating. Children usually prefer fresh spinach over wilted spinach because of the texture, so give their spinach a fine chop and add it when plating.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 medium bowl
• Calories: 436.25
• Total Fat: 3.31 g
• Saturated Fat: .61 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 1.99 g
• Cholesterol: 0 mg
• Sodium: 317 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 87.18 g
• Dietary Fiber: 20.83 g
• Total Sugars: 10.03 g
• Protein: 19.56 g