The Dominican Rice and Beans That Cook in One Pot — Nobody Ever Wrote It Down

Rice in one pot, beans in the other, beans ladled over the rice. That is a good plate and everybody knows it. But there is a second thing you can do with the same beans and the same rice, and in a Dominican house it has its own name — moro — and it is not the same food at all. The rice cooks IN the bean broth, so the color and the salt and the fat are inside every grain instead of sitting on top. My mother never wrote this one down. She went by the sound of the pot and the level of the liquid. I'm Rosa. I cooked for twenty-four years in a Dominican kitchen in Washington Heights, and today I am putting numbers on it so it survives. The method, so you can keep it (feeds 6): • From dried: 1 cup dried red kidney beans soaked overnight, boiled in 6 cups unsalted water with a piece of onion — a full rolling boil the first 10 minutes, then a simmer, 1 to 1½ hours, tender but still whole. Drain them and KEEP THE BROTH. • 2 tbsp oil, 3 tbsp sofrito, softened 2 minutes. 1 tbsp tomato paste fried until it darkens. A pinch of oregano. • The drained beans go in and get turned in that fat for a minute. This is the step people skip. • THE LIQUID IS THE MEASUREMENT: for 2 cups of long-grain rice you want 3 cups of liquid total — the bean broth first, topped up with water to reach 3 cups. • Salt it now, about 2 tsp, and taste it. A little saltier than you'd want to drink. • Rinse the rice, add it, stir once. Boil uncovered until the liquid drops below the rice and the little eyes open. • One stir, bottom to top. Lid on tight (foil under it if it doesn't seal), low heat, 20 minutes, no lifting. • 5 minutes more a touch higher for concón. Rest 5, fluff, scrape the crust up and serve it on its own plate. • Canned: 2 cans rinsed, plus about 2½ cups water and a splash of the can liquid to make the same 3 cups. Taste before salting. Is it moro or is it locrio in your family? People argue about what counts as which. And is it red beans, black beans or guandules in your house? Tell me where your family is from in the DR. I read every comment. Next video: chicharrón de pollo, and why it is not the same thing as pica pollo.