For Thur. 3/26: Black Beans and Rice with Cumin

I started with this recipe, doubled. I made the following alterations (to the doubled recipe):

I quick-soaked the beans (boiled with some water-- and baking soda, our water is hard-- and as soon as they were boiled, put the lid on and let it sit for an hour with the heat off.)

I used 1 1/2 cups of dried onions (I'm sick and didn't feel like chopping onions after I did a whole head of garlic.)

Instead of fresh jalapenos, I used a can of green chiles (drained) and a few Tbsp. of ground chipotle (which is smoked dried jalepenos.) I was going to use one can of green chiles and one of jalapenos, but Emma lost the can of jalapenos. Good job, Ems. ;) So I improvised; I figure the slight smoky flavor might make this a little more like Moros y Christianes, the classic Cuban dish, which I am fond of. I decided that was not a bad thing.

Toward that end (and also because it would not all fit) I reduced the water to 6 cups. I want it more like beans and rice and less like beans and rice soup.

Oh, and I omitted the pepper, because I'm sick and lazy tonight.

It will cook for 6 hours on Low (the beans were already pretty soft, I think I may have overdone the quick soak...) and then go to High for 15 minutes after Jeff removes the bay leaves and stirs in the instant brown rice (which Uncle Bens makes, if you were wondering-- and one box is a perfect size for this recipe, well, two if you double it, because one box is 2 cups.)

So yeah, less the soup it started out as, and more like Moros. Not a bad thing, IMO. Now, hopefully it works... So I'm classifying this as "Cuban" though it might not be so much really, because the flavors remind me of Cuban flavors. :) (Though I could throw a bit of cloves in there and make it even more Cuban-tasting, yummy.)