Connoisseur Tom's Budget Red Beans & Rice
So I have been, essentially, unemployed for the past 5 months; working short-term contracts here and there, selling my possessions to make ends meet, scrimping and saving everywhere I can. Thankfully, I just landed a job, which makes me luckier than the majority of folks out there right now, so I figured I’d best share my frugal wisdom with the downtrodden.
The total cost of this recipe is less than three dollars, assuming a reasonably stocked spice rack.
I did not soak the beans because, in truth, you don’t need to soak the beans. However, it is not a step I would omit in the future. There is a nasty little toxin called Phytohaemagglutinin in some dried beans, especially kidney beans, and especially when uncooked or undercooked, that causes nausea and general misery. Bringing the beans to a boil for ten minutes, then turning off the heat and letting them soak for an hour or so leeches a good deal of this toxin out, and proper cooking takes care of the rest, but a 5 hour soak, followed by discarding the soak water, is a surefire way to avoid this particular malady.
For this recipe you will need:
Red Beans
1 lb dried kidney beans
1 hambone
1 lg Onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 dried chilies, deveined and seeded
2 tbsp hot sauce
1 tbsp chili powder
3 Bay leaves
2 tsp dried thyme
Salt & pepper to taste
2 tbsp oil
2 quarts water
Rice
2 cups rice
2 tbsp butter
3 ½ c water
Salt & Pepper to taste
In a large cast iron Dutch oven, sautee the onions, garlic, and dried chilies in the cooking oil for about 5 minutes or until the onions pick up some decent color. Add in the beans (after rinsing and sorting them to remove rocks, bugs, hairballs, and damaged beans), the hambone, the hot sauce, all the spices, and the water. Bring to a boil, and boil for 10 minutes then reduce to a light simmer, cover the pot, and walk away for 4 hours. After the 4 hours have passed, uncover the pot, stir the beans, and let it simmer uncovered for another hour.
After that hour passes, remove the hambone, it should be pretty much cleaned of meat and connective tissue by now, make sure you get any errant smaller bones and chunks of cartilage out at this point. While you’re picking stuff out, be sure to remove the bay leaves.
With all the solids out of the beans, take the potato masher to the pot and mash about half of the beans, this will give a smoother and thicker texture.
Now, lower the heat on the beans to the lowest setting and start on the rice. In a frying pan, melt the butter and put the uncooked rice in the pan. Cook it, stirring frequently, until the rice begins to give off a nice nutty smell and picks up some color. Then add in the water, bring it to a boil, and then cover the pan and turn off the heat.
Your rice should be ready in about 15-20 minutes.
All that’s left is to lay down some rice and spoon a ton of these super tasty and undeniably healthy beans on top and dine well; this is about as close to