MONDAY MORNING RECIPE POST - CILANTRO-LIME BLACK BEAN RICE

My dish this week came from Julia's Album. The original recipe can be found here. It is described as an easy, light, delicious, gluten free side dish. It is flavored with lime juice and cilantro, which made it very yummy. If you don't enjoy these two items, you could replace them with your own choices. I especially enjoyed the added lime juice. I also like the idea of pairing it with Julia's recipe of Cilantro Lime Honey Garlic Salmon. You can find it at this link, but other favorite proteins would suite very nicely. 

Cilantro-Lime Black Bean Rice - 4 servings

Approximate calories per serving: 321

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup Jamine rice, uncooked (you can use any rice that says on the packet that it cooks in 15 minutes)

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed (use one tablespoon first before adding another, to suit your own taste)

15 ozs. can of black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Use a large, deep skillet or a large sauce pan.

Add chicken broth, uncooked rice, 1/4 teaspoon salt and minced garlic to the skillet or saucepan.

Bring to a boil. Mix everything well and reduce the heat to a low boil/simmer. Cover the skillet with the lid. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, covered, until the rice is cooked through.

Remove skillet from heat. Mix in 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lime juice, rinsed and drained beans, and fresh cilantro into the rice. Add more salt and small amount of lime juice if needed to suit your own taste. Julia suggested 1 extra tablespoon.

Julia's note: she thought 2 tablespoons of lime juice (fresh squeezed only) are just perfect, but the lime flavor might be too strong for some people, so you might  just add 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons instead of the two she used. I actually ended up adding more lime juice at the table but it's entirely up to you how much.

If you go to her website you will be able to read the full nutritional value of this meal, and see other very appetizing recipes.

(Less would be more trying to add the lime slices to pretty it up a bit, but it worked out as far as adding flavor to the dish.)

I read several comments and thought it would be a good thing to read first next time. Here are some of the things that took my interest.

Adding a fresh corn-on-the-cob and eating it on the side made a great meal for one commenter.

Another said that instead of the whole 2 cups of chicken broth, she substituted a can of coconut cream and then enough chicken broth to make up the 2 cup measure.

Someone else used a bowl with a bed of lettuce, topped with the beans and rice, plus tomatoes, onions, peppers and papaya.

Another commenter asked about making this dish the day before. The answer was yes, it can be made up to two days in advance and kept refrigerated.

Reheating can be done in the microwave, adding a small amount (a tablespoon or 2) of water, or freshly squeezed lime juice. This will prevent the rice from sticking.

Someone said hers was very starchy. Julia said to thoroughly rinse the rice with cold water before cooking and that should take care of it. This is something we noticed and we realized we had forgotten to rinse the rice.

Another person used cauliflower rice instead of rice and said it was delicious.

Someone used a few dashes of green Tabasco sauce (we splashed a little sriracha on ours). 

The dish can be served cold or at room temperature. (We said this would be a great dish to take on a picnic.)

One person used it in a family favorite which was a burrito bowl topped with salsa verde, honey-lime chicken and all the fixings for their particular dish.

Someone else used kidney beans instead of black beans, though the black beans made it look extra pretty in my humble opinion.

What did we think. Out of 10 out of 10, 10 being the best, Gregg gave this a 7 and I gave it a 9. He found it a bit bland and stodgy (the stodginess I think was because of not rinsing the rice. I didn’t think it was bland, just not highly seasoned.  There are times when I would rather have tasty but plainer tasting food). However, the more he ate, the more he liked and by the time he finished, his number became 8-1/2. He said he would eat it again but as a small side served next to a protein.

The first night we served it with an already cooked rotisserie chicken from the supermarket. The second night we bought shrimp which were sauteed in a separate frying pan.

I had this on its own for a vegetarian meal on the third day. There was just enough left for a light lunch and it was delicious. I had a quarter of lime left and sprinkled the juice on my serving. The more lime juice for me the better. I would definitely make this again.

Here is the full address if you want to copy and paste instead of using the link above.

https://juliasalbum.com/cilantro-lime-black-bean-rice/

Thank you for looking at this week's recipe. 

Have a great day!