Chutney Rice and Black Beans

My co worker was heating a dish in the microwave and the smell was delicate, spicy and more-ish. You can smell a food and know that it is going to taste very good. She sent me the recipe and posted is a version of it but the version is equivalent to a third cousin. She had not used cardamon because she did not have any pods and her recipe had used cilantro which I did not have. I love cilantro and would have added it. The next day I brought her a 100 g bag of pods from the Atlas Trading Co. When I was in South Africa I went to this famous old store just to inhale myself into spice heaven. A girl friend had brought me saffron threads from Bali. So I was on the look out for more saffron. They did not have saffron but they had a lot of cardamon (spelt Karamon) and cinnamon bark. I have been using the cardamon as part of my spice bag to make chai tea. So fragrant and such good memories of Capetown.

Chutney Rice and Black Beans

1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp butter
1 large onion finely chopped
2 fat fresh cloves of garlic finely chopped
12 cardamon pods
4 long sticks of cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin (would have used cumin seeds if I had had them)
1.5 cups of long grain white rice
3 cups of water
2 tbsp Pataks Major Grey chutney (gluten free)
1/2 jalapeno pepper finely chopped
3 green onions finely chopped
19 ounce can of black beans(Unico brand is gluten free)
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter and oil. Add onion, garlic and spices. Cook till onions soften. Add rice. Stir for 1 to 2 minutes. Add water. Cover and steam until rice is cooked. For this brand of rice the time was 17 minutes. Check the cooking time on the rice bag. While the rice is cooking, open can of beans and rinse. When the rice is almost finished cooking, place beans in a clear glass serving dish and heat in the microwave for 2 minutes. I like to use clear glass when the food is speckled and dotted with contrasting colours. Finely chop green onion and jalapeno pepper. When the rice is cooked, pick out the cinnamon sticks and cardamon pods (or leave in and have every one pick out their own pods), mix with the hot black beans, chutney, jalapeno pepper, salt and pepper and sprinkle with onions. Serve the chutney on the side. Expect half the jar of the chutney to disappear.

If you add a cup of cooked kernel corn to this dish, you would have a complete protein. Brown rice would be better than white rice but I wanted to make this dish in under 25 minutes. Also a finely chopped red pepper would make the dish look festive.

Blueberry Orange Muffins

Any blueberry muffin says "eat me". To make this muffin more eye catching, dot the top with more blueberries and then sprinkle with sugar. The message through the eye to the brain is that the muffins is full as possible of blueberries and if I am making them they actually are. I like to push the blueberry edge to see how many blueberries the muffin can actually hold before being declared blueberry pie.

This is a simple recipe and goes well with tea or coffee. Since my handy man and his design- talented wife were over for to measure rooms, this was the recipe I chose.

2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp orange zest
1/8 cup melted butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 and 3/4 cup flour. Use 2 tbsp of flour to toss with the blue berries.
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup blueberries. If they are frozen, do not defrost.

Extra blue berries to press into the top of the muffins and then to sprinkle with sugar.
Combine and beat all the wet ingredients.
Combine and sift all the dry ingredients.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Just mix till you see no dry flour. Gently fold in blue berries. Pile into greased muffin tins. This recipe will make 12 small or 9 larger muffins. I choose to go with the larger version. They took 20 minutes to bake in a 350 degree oven.

I served them in the basket with no butter or jam. Any spread would have spoiled the fresh taste of blueberry. The texture was moist and springy. And the blueberries were sweet and juicy.

Joy of Food

This blog is called little joys with food because food prepared lovingly and with care gives all who eat it, just a little joy.