From Cuba
According to Fernando Ortiz, famous Cuban historian, “Congrí is a name from Haiti where the black or red beans are known as congo and the rice is riz , from the French. Congrí comes from the voice of the Haitian creole which means “congos with rice”.
INGREDIENTS.
- 6 cups water
- 1 cup black turtle beans
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp ground oregano
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/4 of green pepper , sliced
- 3 sliced bacon, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 cups long grain white rice
- 1 tbsp canola oil
PREPARATION (Number of Servings: 6)
1. After cleaning and sorting thru the beans, place them in the pressure cooker along with the water, bay leaves, oregano, salt, pepper and canola oil. Close with lid and place stove on high. Once pressure starts to make noise, lower to medium. Cook for 40 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a frying pan add a tiny bit of oil* along with bacon on medium high; saute for 5 minutes. Add onions to saute for another 5 minutes; finally add garlic and saute for 2 minutes; remove from heat and set aside.
3. Hopefully by now beans should be ready. Once pressure from cooker is all gone, carefully remove the lid. Check to see if beans are tender but not mushy, some call for only 35 minutes in the pressure cooker. Extract 3 cups of the bean broth to allow it to cool and drain the rest if any remains. If not enough broth remains, add water to make up for the difference. Cool beans as well. Also, get rid of leaves and pepper; all their flavors are in the broth and no longer serve any purpose.
4. In rice cooker place rice (washed and rinsed), beans, broth, and bacon mixture along with its’ fat. Add additional salt if you feel it needs it but I doubt it will since bacon adds some salt to it as well. Put to cook and stir 5 minutes after it’s done.
*Oil is only to avoid bacon from sticking to pan.
