Black beans and rice (thing)

This is my favorite comfort food, excellent after a day of hiking or other physical work. My version is a much quicker and dirtier one than The Custodian's under rice and beans; check that one out if you're making dinner for company.

This one takes between 15 minutes and 1 hour, depending on what kind of rice you use. It's simple, and you can add all kinds of stuff onto it without more cooking (eg, fruit, salsa, cheese).

For enough to serve 2 or 3 people:
INGREDIENTS:

• chop (into approx. 1 cm cubes) one large white onion or equivalent amount of other onion
• finely chop about 2 tablespoons garlic, or to taste
• 2 cans black beans (Goya are the best, IMHO)
• black pepper, other spices if you like
• olive oil for sautéeing
• rice

OPTIONAL:

• other veggies - chopped green pepper, etc.
• cut up mango, apple, or banana
• lime juice
• fruit salsa (see the recipes at 2 Simple Salsas, for example)
• hot sauce (like Tabasco)
• grated cheese

1. Start the rice. Use enough that everyone will end up with at least a cup and a half of cooked rice.

In a separate pan (deep enough to hold 2 cans of beans):
2. sauté the onions and garlic - at least until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic a little later than the onions, to avoid burning it.
3. Add the beans (draining the juice they come in is a matter of taste).
4. Stir well, add plenty of black pepper and whatever other spices you like. You can add other veggies (eg, chopped green pepper) if you want. If the bean mix is really soupy, let it boil down a bit; I generally make it so that it's mostly beans in a thick gravy.
5. When the rice is done and the beans are warm and peppery, eat up! On each plate (or in each bowl) put a bed of rice, and top it with a hearty glop of beans. Add extras, like mango or other fruit slices, spritzes of lime juice, salsa, hot sauce, cheese etc. My favorite is mango and lime -- also, if there's leftover mango and lime, they make a great juice drink (add sugar and water).

Quick, Easy and Good.