Baião de dois (Brazilian rice and beans with cheese)
Rice and black-eyed peas cooked together with garlic, peppers and cilantro, then folded with cubes of melty cheese, the cozy one-pot rice and beans of northeastern Brazil.
- 40 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $1.46 a serving
- 510 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice, rinsed
- 1 can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup queso fresco, cut into ½-inch cubes
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
From your pantry
- 2½ cups water
- 1 tsp salt
Each serving has about 510 calories, 17 g protein, 79 g carbs and 14 g fat, and costs about $1.46 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green bell peppers? Red bell peppers or yellow bell peppers work.
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No queso fresco? Cotija cheese or feta cheese works.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the butter in a large pot with a lid over medium heat.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Medium heat
Add the onion and pepper and cook 5 to 6 minutes, until soft.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds.
Medium heat
Add the rice and stir 1 minute, until coated.
Medium heat
Add the water, salt and black-eyed peas and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Stir once, cover, turn the heat to low and cook 18 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 18 min
Take it off the heat, scatter the cheese, cilantro and green onions over the rice, and gently them in. Cover for 5 minutes so the cheese .
Fold. Folding means mixing gently by scooping from the bottom and turning it over the top, instead of stirring hard. It keeps light mixtures airy and soft things like berries or herbs in one piece.
How you’ll know: You use slow, wide strokes and stop as soon as there are no streaks left.
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Timer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Queso fresco softens but doesn’t melt into strings. Warm, creamy cubes are what you’re after.Food safety: If you’re pregnant, buy queso fresco labeled “made with pasteurized milk,” and for extra care, warm it until it’s steaming hot.
Fluff and serve straight from the pot.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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