If you’re looking for a side dish that will make your taste buds do the cha cha cha, look no further than Portuguese beans’ rice! This tasty combo is sure to be a hit with the whole fam, whether you’re serving it up with a juicy steak, delicious fish filet or the tasty Portuguese pork ribs (check out our recipe).
Portuguese beans’ rice, also known as arroz de feijão, is a traditional and beloved dish in Portugal. It is a versatile side dish that pairs well with many different main courses, depending on which regions you choose to savor it.
It is made mainly with white rice, red beans and tomatoes. Nevertheless, it gets most of its wonderful taste from the onions, garlic, bay leaf, bell pepper, bell pepper paste and coriander that help flavor it.
Leaving the rice and the cooked beans for last, sauté everything together, refresh with some wine, add salt and pepper to your taste and let it simmer in water for 10min in low heat.
Because this side is mostly appreciated “brothy” or, as we say in Portugal, “caldoso” or “malandrinho” (literaly: “naughty”), be sure to use 3 times the measure of water you used in rice.
When cooked, sprinkle with some chopped coriander and serve immediately. The rice will keep opening for the next 5 min, but it’s up to you and your personal taste how long you want to wait. I like it more “al dente”…
You should enjoy this recipe with some of the dishes we teach at Homecooking Lisbon on our Traditional Portuguese Cooking Class, namely Entrecosto or Pataniscas de Bacalhau (Codfish Fritters)
Join us on our lovely kitchen and let our team of experienced chefs and instructors guide you through the process of preparing these tasty dishes.
Arroz de Feijão (Beans Rice)
Ingredients
- 1 onion small
- 3 cloves garlic
- olive oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 red pepper optional
- 2 tomatoes ripe
- 200 g tomato chopped (canned)
- 3 tbsp bell pepper paste
- 50 ml white wine
- 200 g rice carolino
- 600 ml water 3 times the rice
- 2 tbsp coriander fresh, chopped
- 200 g red beans cooked
- 1 chilli fresh, optional
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, sauté the chopped onion and garlic in olive oil, add the bay leaf and a little chopped coriander.
- When the onion is translucent, add the pepper strips (optional), the wine, the fresh tomato in cubes without seeds, the red pepper paste and the canned tomato to the sautéed, mix well and let it cook for a while.
- Wash the rice and add it to the stew with 3 measures of water to the amount of rice, and season with salt and pepper. Add the cooked beans.
- When the rice is cooked, turn it off and serve, before the rice has finished absorbing all the water and is overcooked.