Step 1: Preparing the Rice

Start by preparing the rice. The rice must be almost cooked and light to allow the stews beans to cover the palate.

• Pour the rice into a sieve and wash with cold water until the water which drains out is clear. This helps wash off excess starch, make the rice to cook uniformly and it doesn’t stick together when cooked.
• Heating 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pot over an average flame.
• After browning the meat, you should add one tablespoon of sofrito and stir it in for about 2-3 minutes until the flavors come out again. This will help you to introduce your rice into some of the major herb and spices use in Puerto Rico culinary practices
• Pour the rice into the pot and mix this grain with the sofrito and the oil.
• Add 4 cups of water and also put a tea spoon of salt. Bring to a boil.
• After it has boiled bring the heat down and let it simmer before covering the pot and cooking the rice for about 18-20 minutes depending on the rice used and the water content used.
• And transfer it on the serving plate, fluff the rice with fork and keep aside.

Step 2: Preparing the Beans

When the rice is being cooked you can also cook the beans as part of the process. This step is where the flavoured of Puerto Rican cuisine come alive.

• In a medium saucepan, warm about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the saucepan over medium ways.
• Mix the diced onions into the pot, minced garlic and green bell peppers. Sauté for four to five minutes, or until tender and giving off some of their aroma.
• Then add 2 tablespoons of the home made sofrito and let the sauce cook for another 2-3 minutes until the sofrito has released its flavorful scent.
• After that pour the tomato sauce, cumin, adobo seasoning, and oregano. Stir with the spoon to mix and let the sauce cook for closer to 5 minutes.
• Stir in the beans (with their liquid if you used canned beans) and 1 cup of water or broth to the pan.
• Reduce the heat to medium and allow it to cook the beans for another 15-20 minutes while stirring occasionally in order to avoid sticking to the bottom. Again the sauce should also start to thicken so that the beans can soak up all the flavors nicely.
• Taste the beans and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.

Step 3: Serve and Enjoy

The best way to serve this is when the rice and beans are done it is best that they be served together as one dish. Using a spoon take a generous amount of rice and place it on your serving plate, then use a spoon to spread a good amount of beans all over the rice. To complete the meal’s authenticity, serve it with fried plantain, or a basic avocado salad.

List of Ideas on How to Prepare the Best Puerto Rican Rice and Beans

Puerto Rican rice and beans can sound easy to prepare, but a few secrets will allow reaching the peak of a culinary masterpiece.

1. Use Homemade Sofrito: Although there is the easy way of buying the sofrito, there is no substitute for homemade sofrito. The ingredients used to make these are gamal, onions, green red bell peppers, green onions and if available culantro. Freeze it in small portions so you always have fresh sofrito to use.
2. Season to Taste: The flavors of Puerto Rico can be described orally as succulent and distinctive in tradition. The intensity of the spices does not have to be changed very often so don’t be scared to season to its optimal taste. The combination of adobo, cumin and oregano gives the beans a deep full flavoured taste without overpowering the beans.
3. Cook the Beans Gently: To prevent over processing the beans, cook them at a low boil and when stirring do so gently. This will assist them retain the texture they have as they soak up the flavors created by the sofrito and spices respectively.
4. Control the Rice Texture: The perfect Puerto Rican rice should not be too soft or too hard to handle and definitely should not be sticky. Several things can help with this: rinsing the rice before cooking, and using long-grain rice because it cooks up dryer and fluffier than short-grain rice.
5. Let the Rice Rest: Following the cooking process, ensure you let the rice to stand with the lid on for couple of minutes then for the flare. This resting period helps to allow the rice to set well properly while on the other part it helps the rice absorb any remaining steam.

Encouragement | You’ve Got This!

Learning how to cook Puerto Rican rice and beans for the first time might be slightly overwhelming, but relax; cooking is like travelling and each stage is equally important. Being a fried dish, you can add this food on the go and at any time of the year because of its little or no cholesterol content. Since you’ve learnt the traditional methods feel free to try out new beans, alter the spicing up, or even add some extras such as olive or ham to the recipe.

Each and every time you experiment in the kitchen is a way to learn then next time things are bound to be a whole lot better. Following these steps and tips you’ll realize that Puerto Rican rice and beans it’s not only delicious but also a warm dish that warms the hearts. In the middle of this recipe, there is love, community sameness, and tradition, and with each serving to the heart, we are also serving that same feeling to many people.

Come on in and let’s begin and bring the flavors of Puerto Rico into your own kitchen. You’ll learn that this simple dish of rice and beans is much more than the food they represent, but tradition and sheer delight in cookery. Buen provecho!