Tonight my husband and I had jumbo barbequed pork ribs, and as a side I prepared red beans and rice from the boxed Rice-A-Roni brand. We so liked the fixings I decided to hunt around for a recipe to prepare the dish from scratch. I’m not usually a big fan of beans, but the combination of rice and kidney beans (with the seasonings) was simple yet exceptional.

 

The first recipe comes from Diana’s Kitchen:

 

Red Beans & Rice

1 ham bone, with meat, or ham hocks

1 LB dried red beans, soaked overnight and drained

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

6 C hot cooked rice

1 C green onions, chopped

 

Place beans in bottom of crock-pot and add remaining ingredients, except rice and green onions, with 1½ quarts water. Cover and cook on high two hours. Turn heat to low and cook, covered, ten to twelve hours. Remove ham bone and mash some of the beans against the side of the pot to thicken the remaining liquid. Remove meat from bone and return meat to pot. Season with salt and pepper and serve with rice, topped with chopped green onions; serves six.

 

For a faster version of the dish, I found the following at the Recipe-Zaar:

 

Quick Red Beans & Rice

½ C green peppers, chopped

1 (15.5 oz.) can kidney beans, drained

½ C onions, chopped

2 chicken bouillon cubes

oil

½ tsp. hot pepper sauce

2 C water

2 cups MINUTE White Rice, uncooked (quick cook rice)

 

Cook and stir green pepper and onion in oil in large skillet on medium heat until tender. Stir in water, beans, bouillon and pepper sauce. Bring to boil. Stir in rice; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand five minutes before serving.