Sunset Hush Cooking

Main course

Rice and Beans

Written by

Sunset Hush Homemaking

October 7, 2026

Ingredients

Beans:

1 cup dried beans, cooked and drained (or two 15 oz cans of beans)
Reserved bean broth (from the can or cooked beans)

Rice:

1 cup brown rice
1 l (4 cups) water
1 tsp coarse salt

Vegetable stew:

2 small onions (or 1 big onion)
2 small green and / or red sweet peppers
(optional) 1 hot pepper
6 medium-sized garlic cloves
400 g fresh or a 400 g / 15 oz can tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste

Spices and seasoning:

1/2 tsp cajun spice mix
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cumin
salt to taste
sugar to taste
vinegar or lemon juice to taste

Garnish:

fresh coriander
lemon wedge
(optional) hot sauce

Directions

Prepare the beans. Cook 1 cup of dried beans until they are cooked through. I cook beans in a pressure cooker in 1 l of water seasoned with salt and a bay leaf. If they are pre-soaked, it will take about 20 minutes. If beans haven’t been soaked, it takes 45 minutes. Alternatively, use canned beans. Drain the beans and reserve the broth.
Cook 1 cup of brown rice in an excess of water: 1 litre of water, seasoned with 1% (12 g) of salt (about 3 tsp but the exact volume depends on the salt brand). Once the rice is cooked through and soft, drain all the water, and cover the rice with a lid to rest while you prepare the stew.
Chop all the vegetables beforehand to have them ready when you cook: about 200 g onion (2 small onions or 1 big onion) chopped into small cubes, 2 small sweet peppers (red and/or green) in small cubes, (optionally) 1 hot pepper without seeds finely chopped, 6 garlic cloves finely chopped, 400 g tomato cut into small cubes or pureed with a food processor.
Put a large pan on medium-low heat. Once it’s waem, add oil for frying.
Add 1/2 tsp cajun spice mix, 1/4 tsp ground coriander, 1/4 tsp ground cumin to the oil and stir them for 30 seconds to bloom. Make sure to not burn them.
Increase the heat to medium- high and add chopped onion and saute it until it gets translucent. Season a little bit with salt.
Add 1 tbsp tomato paste, mix it with the onion and cook it for 1 minute.
Add peppers and cook them until they change colour. Season a bit with salt.
Add garlic and stir for a couple of minutes until it gets fragrant.
Add tomatoes and a bit of salt for seasoning and mix everything together.
To 1/2 cup of cooked beans, add 1/2 cup of bean broth and blend them with an immersion blender. Add the liquid to the pan along with all the beans and mix.
Simmer the stew on medium-low heat for at least 15 minutes for all the flavours to blend together. You can let it simmer for up to 1 hour. Add bean broth if the stew becomes too dry.
Take a taste test and adjust the seasoning: more salt if bland, sugar if too acidic, lemon juice if not tangy enough.
Serve the stew alongside rice, with a wedge of lemon and chopped fresh coriander.

Tips

Do not skip tomato paste, it’s a great source of umami flavour which is extra valuable when it comes to vegetarian and vegan meals.
Make sure to not burn garlic. That’s why it is added when other aromatics are done to protect it from burning while still allowing to release the flavour.
Seasoning a dish with salt several times throughout the cooking process allows every ingredient to get its share of seasoning and results in a deeper flavour.