Haitian · serves 6 · about 70 minutes
Haiti's national plate: rice and red beans cooked as one, perfumed with epis and a whisper of clove. One island over, it's called la bandera — here it speaks Creole, and it speaks it perfectly.
Ingredients
- 2 cups Iberia Parboiled Rice 5 lbs
- 1.5 cups Iberia Red Kidney Beans W/S 15 oz
- 3 tbsp epis (blended pepper-garlic-herb base) or minced garlic + parsley + thyme
- 2 tbsp Iberia Extra Virgin Olive Oil Blend 51 oz
- 1 scotch bonnet, whole, never burst
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 sprig thyme
- 3.5 cups bean liquid + water
- to taste salt
Method
- Warm the oil and fry the epis until the kitchen announces dinner.
- Add the beans and fry 3 minutes in the base.
- Add the liquid, cloves, thyme, and the whole scotch bonnet riding on top.
- Stir in the rice, boil until the liquid meets it, then cover and steam 20 minutes on low.
- Lift out the bonnet, cloves, and thyme. Fluff and serve — with sos pwa, fried fish, or legim alongside.