Jake's Favorite Black Beans and Rice
4 cups instant brown rice, OR 1 cup brown rice, cooked in appropriate amount of water for
either
4 cans black beans, rinsed and drained. You may blend one to three cans with the juice,
if you like more of a refried bean texture.
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
Cheese Topping:
1 cup water (use hot water if you do not have a Vita-Mix)
3/4 cup raw cashews
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup pimientos, undrained
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon each dill weed, chili powder and cumin
Optional toppings: chopped tomatoes, sliced black olives, sliced green onions, shredded
lettuce, Tofutti sour cream, etc.
Cook Rice.
Combine all of cheese topping ingredients in your blender and let run while you fix the beans.
Stir beans and tomatoes together in a saucepan and heat.
Spread rice on a platter. Spread bean mixture over rice. Pour Cheese Topping over all right out of the blender.
Top with toppings if you wish (or you may serve them on the side for each to top his own as he likes).
Serve with whole grain corn tortilla chips, salsa and my Chunky Guacamole (Vegweb recipe). This is my sons favorite food. We can have it every night and he would not care. Hope you enjoy!
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Sorry your cheese sauce didn't turn out. I have a Vita Mix and it 'cooks' the cheese sauce to the right consistency if you let it run for 5 to 8 minutes. You may have to pour your cheese sauce into a pan and cook it a little to get the right consistency.
I made this to the T, but the cheese sauce turned out horribly. It was like flavored water. Luckily, I had some leftover "Nutritional Yeast Sauce" (from this site, very yummy) that I used over the rice and beans. Without the sauce or extra toppings, this recipe is pretty plain; basically just brown rice and black beans w/ tomatoes. I ended up adding seasoning salt, spicy seasoning, and garlic/herb seasoning to the black beans. I will not be making this again, sorry!
This was very tasty. I blended 1 can of beans. Also makes a good burrito filling, but a bit runny. Suggestion--make extra "cheese sauce". Makes a great topping for veggies.