Rice and beans are two of the humblest pantry staples. They’re also among the cheapest and most versatile. On their own, they’re pretty, pretty good, depending on how you use them. But these days I’m really digging them together, when the sum is definitely greater than the parts.
I have to agree with chef and cookbook author Maricel Presilla, who, in her James Beard Award-winning “Gran Cocina Latina,” unequivocally calls Cuban beans and rice “one of the most felicitous rice and bean combinations I have ever tasted.”
Its Spanish name is Moros y Cristianos (Moors and Christians), which not only gets at the cultural collisions that led to them ending up on the same plate, but also the juxtaposition of the white rice and black beans. (Red or kidney beans are also used in Cuba.)
Once the two star ingredients are combined, the juxtaposition doesn’t last very long. The inky black liquid from cooking dried black beans (it’s easy, and you don’t even have to soak them) colors the rice, and what you get is a seductive, dark hue in the finished dish. The commingling of flavors, ingredients and color is “the history of Cuba in a pot,” Presilla tells me, with its merging of influences from Spain, Africa and Latin America. “It is emblematic.”
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It’s also downright delicious. The earthy flavor of the beans is the perfect foil to the brighter flavors imparted by the vinegar and oregano. Sauteed bacon doesn’t hurt either, with its smoky, salty presence infusing everything in the pot.
Rice and beans is nothing fancy, which is one of the things I love about it, but Presilla says it’s often served as feast food, especially around Christmas. The dish is typically enjoyed as a side, she says, along with something like juicy pork and yucca with mojo sauce, but I’ve been more than happy to eat a bowl for a satisfying main course.
Presilla, who hails from Cuba, recalls the family cook teaching her how to make Moros y Cristianos. “It’s the first dish I ever made as a child,” she says. It’s time those of us who haven’t had the pleasure of eating it all our lives started making up for lost time.
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RECIPE NOTES: If you don’t want to cook dried beans, Presilla suggests using one 15-ounce can of beans, reserving its liquid to use when you cook the rice. You will have to add water to the liquid from the can to get the necessary 4 cups of liquid for cooking the rice (the color of the finished dish won’t be as dark). If you don’t have sherry vinegar, you can substitute distilled white vinegar, although the flavor won’t be quite the same. Equal amounts of distilled vinegar and dry sherry will work, too.
The cilantro and lime are not traditionally Cuban, so they’re an optional garnish.
Make Ahead: The beans can be cooked up to 2 days in advance. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid, and refrigerate beans and liquid separately.
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