Actually, there are few things I love MORE than beans and rice, so I was delighted to discover this simple Instant Pot recipe for black beans and brown rice on Cookincanuck.com today.

Sadly, while James tolerates beans, he’s not as big a fan as I am; he prefers beans as a small part of his dinner, not the main performer. Meanwhile, he has no idea that some form of bean is in almost everything I make. Indeed, my chick’n enchiladas–one of his favourites–contains THREE kinds of beans: chickpeas in the vegan chick’n, lentils in the tortillas, and black beans in the rice!

However, my imaginary friends, Chazz and Frances, brought me a sampler pack of Rancho Gordo Heirloom Beans (which you can’t buy in Canada), and the beans are so delicious, I want to make sure that when I use them, they’re highlighted in the meal, not unrecognizable as a top secret ingredient.

The first thing I made with the Rancho Gordo beans was an amazing cassoulet with the Alubia Blanca Beans–I used this recipe from Veganlovlie.com, which also called for vegan sausage, so I was able to use the Beyond Beef sausages Annie brought from town. I also topped the cassoulet with some chopped preserved lemon I made back in March. The result was super tasty and satisfying, but James was not particularly impressed.

But back to the simple beans and rice recipe. It’s super quick and straightforward, and the result is delicious! I did change a few ingredients slightly, so I’m reproducing the original CookinCanuck recipe with the changes I made:

Vegan Rice and Beans

Set the Instant Pot on Saute and throw in….

• ½ medium yellow onion chopped

Once the onions are translucent, add…

• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 2 tsp cumin 
• 2 tsp chili powder 
• 1 ½ tsp smoked paprika
• 1 ½ tsp oregano
• 1 tsp sea salt

Saute for another 30 seconds and add the following (and deglaze the pot):

• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 TBS Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base

Stir well until the bouillon base is dissolved into the broth and add…

• 1 sliced serrano pepper (or jalapeno pepper)
• 1 ½ cups Rancho Gordo Midnight Black Beans 
• 1 ½ cups brown basmati rice

Press “manual” and set the timer to thirty minutes. When the timer dings, allow the Instant Pot to release naturally for ten minutes and then do a quick release.

Add and mix well…

• 1 TBS lime juice
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

I served it (to myself for lunch) topped with a little of my smoky vegan cheez sauce, a dollop of salsa, some fresh avocado, and a healthy sprinkling of cilantro.

I used the beans and rice for burritos for dinner and, in spite of his dread of beans, James absolutely loved them and asked for seconds (which shows he wasn’t just being polite!). I used lentil tortillas and added coleslaw to the beans and rice inside the burritos and topped them with some of my smoky cheez sauce, salsa, avocado, and cilantro.

And a couple of days ago, Bob sent me a link to this great cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” by Michael Kiwanuka. Bob and Susan are coming up next week for a few days, so we should have a fine time talking about music and eating vegan food.