Arroz e Feijão (Brazilian Rice & Black Beans)

Name: Arroz e Feijão (Brazilian Rice & Black Beans)
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Brazilian
Ingredients: 250 g Dried black beans (feijão preto); 300 g Long-grain white rice; 1 (150 g) Onion; 5 cloves (25 g) Garlic, minced; 1 Bay leaf; 2 g Ground cumin; 30 ml (2 tbsp) Olive oil; 600 ml Hot water; 10 g Salt

The plate every Brazilian eats almost daily: fluffy garlic-scented white rice next to a pot of soft black beans in their own dark, savoury broth. Simple, but the true taste of home cooking.

Pinagmulan

Recipe ni Brazilian home kitchens · 🏺 Traditional · The national everyday staple, eaten from north to south

Brazilian national staple — Rice and beans is the daily foundation of the Brazilian table — nutritionally complementary and eaten across every region and class. In most of Brazil the beans are black (feijão preto); the Northeast and other areas favour brown or 'carioca' beans in the same style.

Karagdagang impormasyon sa Wikipedia ↗

Panoorin habang niluluto

Leticia Schwartz

⏱ 70 min🍽 4 na serving🔥 430 kcal🇧🇷 Brazil

VeganVegetarianWalang glutenWalang gatasWalang mani

Mga hakbang

Put the soaked, drained beans in a pot with the bay leaf and enough fresh water to cover by 4 cm. Boil, then simmer 45–60 minutes until completely soft, topping up with hot water if they surface.
💡 A pressure cooker is how most Brazilian homes do this — about 20 minutes once at pressure. Either way, the beans are ready only when one squashes to cream between your fingers.
For the beans' seasoning (the refogado): warm 15 ml oil in a small pan and fry half the chopped onion and half the garlic for 3 minutes until soft and golden.
Ladle in two spoonfuls of cooked beans and mash them into the onion, then tip it all back into the bean pot with the cumin and 5 g salt. Simmer 5 more minutes.
💡 Mashing a few beans into the fried onion is the secret to a thick, glossy broth instead of watery bean soup.
Now the rice. In a separate pot, warm the remaining 15 ml oil over medium heat and fry the remaining onion and garlic for 2 minutes until fragrant, not browned.
Add the rinsed rice and stir for 2 minutes so the grains turn glossy and slightly translucent at the edges.
Pour in the 600 ml hot water and remaining 5 g salt. Stir once, bring to a boil, then cover and cook on low for 15 minutes without lifting the lid.
💡 Toasting the rice in oil first (the Brazilian way) is what keeps the grains separate and fluffy rather than sticky.
Turn off the rice, keep it covered, and rest 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork.
Serve the rice and beans side by side on the plate, the beans ladled over or beside the rice with plenty of their broth.

💡 Mga tip

For a meaty version, fry 80 g diced bacon or smoked sausage in the refogado before the onion — but the plain vegan pot above is exactly what most families eat midweek.
Leftover beans only improve overnight as they thicken. Loosen with a little hot water when reheating.
This is the base of a full Brazilian plate: add farofa, a couve refogada and a vinagrete and you have lunch.