Black Beans and Rice

Cooking Directions

1. Place the dry beans in a colander or sieve and rinse with cold water. Check for any unwanted debris and discard. If time permits, place the beans in a large bowl and cover with 1” water. Let soak for at least a few hours. (If you don’t have time for soaking, just increase the cooking time.)
2. Prepare the fresh vegetables. Dice each into 1/4” size pieces, then place in a large soup pot with enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pot.
3. Over Med-High heat, saute the vegetables until the onions become translucent and the others become slightly tender. Add the crushed garlic cloves in the last few minutes of cooking. Once the vegetables are ready add 7 cups of water, black beans, pork chop, and the bay leaf. Bring mixture to a rolling boil, then reduce the heat and simmer (covered) for about 3 hours. Stir occasionally.
4. After a couple hours, the pork should be fork tender. Remove the pieces from the pot and once cool enough to touch, chop/pull into bite sized pieces. Once finished, add back to the pot for the remainder of the cooking time.
5. After 3 hours, the black beans should be completely tender (if not continue to cook, check every 15 minutes or so until done). Remove the lid and stir in Hurst’s Black Bean Seasoning package.
6. Add all but a small pinch of the fresh cilantro to the pot and stir to combine. Allow the beans to simmer uncovered while you prepare the rice and cilantro-lime sour cream* (recipe below). This should help reduce some of the liquid and thicken the mixture.
7. Serve black beans over a long grain rice with a dollop of the sour cream and your favorite hot sauce (or jalapeños).
8. Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream: Just as it sounds… Mix remaining cilantro and lime juice into some store-bought sour cream. Incredibly easy and gives a delicious citrus flavor that cuts through the richness of the black beans.