Last Wednesday I tried that 'dump everything in one pot' meal everyone raves about and it was a disaster

I made the black bean and rice one pot meal that's been trending in this group, using $3.28 worth of ingredients from Aldi in Chicago. The rice came out mushy and the beans were still hard in the middle after 45 minutes of simmering, so I ended up tossing half of it. Has anyone else had their 'budget hero' recipe totally flop on them, or did I just mess up the measurements?

2 comments

2 Comments

sean7827d ago

Oh man, I gotta push back a little on this one. In my experience, one pot meals are all about the specific brand of rice and beans you grab. I've had that same mushy rice and crunchy bean problem when I used a store brand long grain rice that just wouldn't cooperate with the cheap dry beans. Your mileage may vary, but I've found that rinsing the rice really well and giving the beans a 30 minute soak before adding them helps a ton. The recipe itself might not be the hero here, maybe it's just a tweak away from being a winner.

rowanharris7d ago

Actually that soaking tip is solid but there's something important missing here. You really need to account for the acidity of whatever tomatoes or broth you're using. Acid stops beans from softening properly, so if you add them to anything with tomatoes or vinegar too early they'll stay crunchy no matter how long you soak them. Try cooking the beans almost completely done before adding any acidic ingredients, then let everything finish together. That alone changed my one pot rice and beans from a gamble to a sure thing.