Rice and Red Beans With Coconut Milk, Chile and Garlic

Rice and Red Beans With Coconut Milk, Chile and Garlic
Total Time
About 1 hour
Rating
4(1,032)
Notes
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Here's an incredibly easy one-pot vegan dish you can put together on a weeknight. For extra oomph, add more jalapeños and garlic, and don't forget to season with salt and pepper as you go. Black, or “forbidden”, rice was used in the photo, but you can also use brown.

Featured in: Rice, Across Its Full Spectrum

Learn: How to Make Rice

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings
  • 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1bell pepper, preferably red or yellow, stemmed, seeded and finely chopped
  • 1fresh or dried chile, like jalapeño or serrano, stemmed, seeded and minced
  • 1tablespoon minced garlic
  • cups cooked kidney or other red beans
  • 1½ to 2cups parboiled black rice or long-grain brown or black (shown) rice (see recipe)
  • 1can coconut milk, about 1½ cups
  • 1teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • ½cup chopped parsley or fresh cilantro leaves.
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

555 calories; 20 grams fat; 14 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 79 grams carbohydrates; 13 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 17 grams protein; 516 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put oil in a large ovenproof pot over medium heat. A minute later, add onion, bell pepper, chile and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add beans and enough water to barely cover. Bring to a boil, then turn off heat. Use an immersion blender or a potato masher to semipurée beans in pot (leave at least half unpuréed).

  2. Step 2

    Stir in rice, coconut milk, ½ cup water, thyme and a good amount of salt and pepper. (If you don't want a crust to develop, cover pot.) Bake until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, then sprinkle with parsley or cilantro and serve.

Ratings

4 out of 5
1,032 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Easy meal to make with things I generally have on hand. Excellent choice when making dinner for vegan friends. Not a big wow factor, just tasty and satisfying. Not sure what the picture is of, but it's not this recipe, which comes out pale in color from the coconut milk.

Whereas this recipe sounds delicious, this Jamaican-me-has never heard of it and we certainly would never stoop to using a jalapeno!
Trinidadian perhaps?

Made this last night, comfort food, not enough flavor. Used black beans (rinsed), followed directions/proportions exactly, used 3-4" serrano pepper, but dish was bland. Rice dominated too much, and picture above misrepresents--actually looks like risotto after rice swells (floating things above are kidney beans). Hoped for "Jamaican"! Doctored w/lots of salsa & guacamole, & way more fresh cilantro. Could taste coconut, not serrano or garlic. Took ~45 min+ to cook w/ lid!

I suspect you want to remove some of the beans and puree them separately, rather than roughly "pureeing" them in the pot--the latter results in everything being kind of chopped, while the former gives you a thick puree to thicken the stew. (Haven't tried it in this recipe, but I have in other bean soups/stews.)

Given the result several factors are worth a look. First - Why thyme? I think ginger just before garlic would be a worthy swap to complement the chilis. The thyme is far off the mark in the final result. And - why baking? i expect making a complementary seasoned rice and serving it under the beans (with half the coconut milk) would be a vast improvement.

With all due respect to Mark, this was a weird one. Made per recipe, and it comes out oddly bland with a gloppy texture. If I made this again I'd use a scotch bonnet or other hot pepper and toss in a little ground allspice. I'd also be tempted to use uncooked rice, jambalaya style. The parboiling seemed to add nothing to the recipe, and contributed to the weird texture. In all, a rare disappointment from Mark the Times.

This looks delicious. I was a bit alarmed, however, to see that each serving has more than 700 calories, and 113 grams of carbohydrate (minus 21 fiber.) I know these are partly slow release carbohydrates but 700 calories? I was about to make this bit it gave me pause. Better to save this for a celebration dinner or for people who are naturally thin.

These instructions are incomplete. Although I parboiled black rice for 15 min as per side recipe, after 45 min in a 375 degree oven, the rice was still hard. Turns out you should soak black rice over night or cook it for 50-60 min. I finished the dish on the stove top by bringing it to a boil, then simmering 20 min & resting for 10 min. The final product was very good. I left the seeds in the jalapeño for just the right amount of heat & added lime juice for brightness at the end.

I agree with the commenter who said the photos is not of this soup, which actually comes out pale in color from the coconut milk. Mine came out an unappetizing flesh/vomit color from the combination of the red beans & white coconut milk. I will not be making this again!

If I were to make this again (not a given) I would double the amount of beans (3 cups or 2 cans) and decrease the rice to 1 and 1/4 cups. As it was, the beans just got lost in a mass of rice, and the flavor was very bland. I would add a bit more heat as well.

Going to make this for my Birthday. One change, would use Scotch Bonnet peppers instead of Jalapenos. Will serve it with Johnny Cakes. Plus I gotta have some Guinness Punch (Don't diss it until you tried it)

This showed up in the app for “red beans and rice” but since I had everything and it could go in the oven, I decided to give it a try. Bland, runny, purple. I used the forbidden rice, but even after washing before I parboiled, the rice turned the coconut milk purple. And as someone else mentioned, one can of beans is not a dish that’s “red beans and rice!” It smelled great, the pepper and onion were lovely with everything going on, but I doubt I’ll try this again

We liked this meal. I can see how all the comments below are true. We used white rice because we're trying to use it up so I was careful to cook everything al dente and it worked nicely. If you like the natural flavors of these ingredients, it's tasty. If you prefer more heavily spiced dishes, see other comments for ideas of how to season it more.

So, I read all the notes beforehand thankfully and decided to improvise. - cooked dried heritage pinto beans - cooked the rice in a rice cooker completely through - after I added the coconut milk & rice, I added: • minced or finely chopped fresh ginger • scallions • chile crisp in chile oil (from Oxomoco) Together those three items made it a nice punchy and hearty dish. Def doesn’t look like the photo, which is too bad because whatever it is, that looks sultry.

Reminded of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" upon viewing the bundt cake "You fixed it!" I mostly read comments for helpful modifications, so I was leary yet enthusiastic the recipe. I used an entire bulb of garlic, 2 cans of drained beans, chicken broth substituted for H2O and did not seed jalepeno. Regular jasmine rice not parboiled and swapped thyme for oregano. Only baked for 15 mins or so. Squeezed lime for brightness. The kids declared it a hit!

My version using brown rice medley came out pretty soupy (after sitting for a few hours, absorption fixed it) and white-ish, and sort of bland. Lots of salt and pepper seemed to fix that problem and a good flavorful dinner was enjoyed by all.

One the most delicious dishes I have made with black rice. 2 jalepeno was a little too spicy for the children but everything else was delicious. I made the rice in the rice cooker and added sausage. Superbly delicious.

To spice it up a bit more, I added 1/2 #of ground chorizo to the pot before baking.

Though it seemed blander than the usual run of what I tend to like and cook, my family and I went through it in two days for lunch and dinner both. The rice can take much more than a 15-minute parboil depending on what kind it is (and maybe freshness). I recommend a sort of al dente test to see when it is parboiled enough. Otherwise, next time I'll add some chopped protein or use other spices than thyme to finish it--but red beans, dark rice and coconut milk seem to be a winning combination.

Complete fail. Did everything as instructed. White, milky... Ma

Unusually bad. Milky, mushy, nothing like the photo or the anticipation. The coconut milk seemed too much but I dutifully followed the recipe figuring it would change after baking. No.

1 cup dried beans precook and soak. 1 cup black rice, parboiled.

Easy, filling, comforting meal. Bump the garlic and the chile waaaay up, and do make sure to salt and pepper strongly throughout, or else it is a bit bland. I've done it successfully with garbanzo beans as well as the prescribed kidney, and tops well with green onions.

This is delicious! It was my first time cooking with black rice, so I followed a commenter's suggestion and used a rice cooker, rather than parboiling. Used canned kidney beans, and instead of garlic and onion, used a bit of hing. Nice textures and flavors through and through.

I used Korean purple rice and Roland brand coconut milk. I added too much salt - wish a more specific quantity was given. Balanced it at the end with the juice of one lime. This smelled like marshmallows while it was in the oven so I was concerned it would turn out sweet, but it is nutty and garlicky, only slightly sweet. Baking time was way too short for the rice I used. I parboiled the purple rice for 20 minutes then still needed to keep the stew in the oven for 90 min. Best reheated next day.

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