Rice with Mung Beans and Black Eyed Beans

Rice with mung beans and black eyed beans is a simple, healthy and delicious dish.

Black eyed beans are a great source of magnesium, iron, folate and protein. In the American South, eating black-eyed peas and greens (such as collards) on New Year’s Day is considered good luck: the peas symbolize coins and the greens symbolize paper money.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups dried mung beans, picked over and washed
• 1 1/2 cups dried black eyed beans, picked over and washed
• 4 cups basmatic rice, washed and drained
• 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 pound ground beef or turkey (for vegetarian skip the meat)
• 1/3 teaspoon turmeric
• salt/pepper
• 4 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil and simmer mung beans on low for 20 – 30 minutes, or until tender.
Drain water and set aside.

Rice with Mung Beans

In another  non-stick heavy bottom pot , saute the chopped onions, garlic and the ground meat without adding any oil for about 3-4 minutes (skip the meat for vegetarian recipe). Add the black eye beans and two cups of water and stir thoroughly and cook them together for one hour or until the beans are cooked.

Place your rice in a large bowl. Wash rice a few times until the water looks clear. This is a very important step to remove the starch from the rice. Bring salted water to a boil, place the rice in the boiling water and cook for about 10 minutes. Make sure you stir the rice twice with a wooden spoon to loosen any grains that may have stuck to the bottom. Taste your rice. The grains should be soft on the outside but still firm in the center. At this point add the mung beans to the rice stir it once. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop additional cooking. Toss rice and mung beans gently in colander.

Return the saucepan to the heat and add couple of tbsp olive oil with 2 tbsp of water till you hear sizzling sound. Add 1/3 of the rice to the saucepan then pour 1/3 of the black eye beans mixture to the rice and repeat this till done.
Poke one or two holes in the rice with the handle of a wooden spatula. This is done for steaming purposes. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil on top.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 minutes unit rice is steaming, then reduce the heat to medium low and place a clean dish towel or 2 layers of paper towels over the pot and cover firmly with the lid to prevent steam from escaping. Cook for 40-50 minutes.

Using one spatula full of rice at a time, place the rice on a serving platter without disturbing the crust. Finally, you remove the crusty bottom which is called tahdig and place it in a separate smaller plate.

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