Recipes · Venezuelan · Main Courses

Caraotas Negras (Venezuelan Stewed Black Beans with White Rice)

One serving has 659 kcal and 22 g protein, and at least a fifth of a woman's daily need of folate (127%), vitamin C (102%), thiamin (99%), copper (98%), manganese (95%) and magnesium (54%). Ready in 605 minutes.

• Preparation: 495 min
• Cooking: 110 min
• Makes: 1 serving (839 g)
• Difficulty: Easy
• Diets: Vegan, Dairy-free, Gluten-free

Ingredients

• 75 g Black beans (caraotas), dried
• 450 g Water (for soaking and cooking the beans)
• 50 g Onion, finely chopped
• 40 g Red pepper, finely chopped
• 15 g Ají dulce (sweet chilli peppers), finely chopped
• 5 g Garlic, crushed
• 13 g Vegetable oil
• 1 g Ground cumin
• 6 g Papelón (raw cane sugar) or brown sugar
• 1 g Salt
• 3 g Coriander leaves, chopped
• 60 g Rice, white, long-grain
• 120 g Water (for the rice)

Method

1. Pick over the beans, rinse them and soak them overnight (8 hours) in plenty of cold water. Drain, put them in a pot with fresh water to cover by 5 cm (about 450 ml for one serving), bring to the boil, skim, and simmer partly covered for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, until very soft. Add hot water if they get dry: they should stay in a dark, soupy broth.
2. While they cook, make the guiso: heat most of the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and cook the onion, red pepper and ají dulce for 8-10 minutes until soft and sweet. Add the garlic and cumin and stir for 1 minute.
3. Stir the guiso into the beans with the papelón and salt. Mash a spoonful of beans against the side of the pot to thicken the broth, and simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes more, until creamy and thick. Taste: Venezuelan caraotas are a little sweet.
4. For the rice, rinse it, heat the rest of the oil in a small pan, stir the rice in it for a minute, add the water and bring to the boil. Cover and cook on the lowest heat for 15-18 minutes, then leave it covered off the heat for 5 minutes and fluff it with a fork.
5. Serve the beans beside or over the rice, scattered with coriander. With shredded beef and fried plantain, this is Venezuela's national plate, pabellón criollo; on their own with rice they are an everyday meal.

Nutrition per serving

Shares of a day's need are for a woman of 30, 165 cm, 60 kg, lightly active, by the US and Canadian Dietary Reference Intakes. SustainBite works out each person's own needs, by the standard where they live: the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations in Norway, the UK's, EFSA's in the EU.

Climate footprint

0.3 kg CO2e a serving: lower than most main dishes on SustainBite. Source: ADEME, Agribalyse 3.2.

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