Quick & Easy Jamaican Rice and Beans

This is my quick and easy way to make Jamaican Rice and Beans. Typically when making rice and beans, I’d soak dry red kidney beans in water overnight, then boil them the next morning and when done incorporate my rice, onion, coconut milk, seasoning, and water (that the beans were boiled in) together to cook together until the rice was done. Although … somebody (*raises hand*) forgot to soak the beans so authentic rice and beans was out of the question. So I opted to go with the quick and easy method … using my rice cooker.

It’s quite simple and delicious. I admit something about boiling it all together on the stove gives it that much more pizzazz but this is good and if no one saw it coming out of a rice pot, they truthfully wouldn’t know.

Serves 9.  9 Points Plus Values. 1 cup serving. OR Serves 18. 5 Points Plus. 1/2 cup serving.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups uncooked white rice (I use Goya Golden Canilla Parboiled Rice)
• 15 oz canned Red Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
• 14 oz canned Light Coconut Milk
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 6 ¼ cups water (since you are using the light coconut milk, you need to cut back on the water because you have 1 ¾ cup of light coconut milk – in total you want 8 cups of liquid as it’s normally 2 cups water per 1 cup rice)
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2 pieces of Thyme (optional)

Add rice, beans, coconut milk, water, onion, salt, pepper and thyme (if using) to rice pot.

Set rice pot on to cook, “set it and forget it.”

Your dish will be done when the rice pot is finished cooking. Make sure to remove the sprigs of thyme before serving.

Serve up with one of your favorite dishes (I recommend curry cabbage, curry chicken stewed chicken or jerk pork/chicken).