Meatless Monday: Southern Red Beans and Rice

This is a popular dish in the Deep South that is typically served with sausage on Mondays.

Ingredients:

1 cup dried red kidney beans
1 onion, chopped
½ bell pepper, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cups water
1 bay leaf
¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon dried sage
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
½ teaspoon Creole or Cajun seasoning
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 green onions, chopped
1 to 5 dashes of Louisiana hot sauce or to taste
1 cup basmati rice
2 ¼ cups water
OPTIONAL: ¼ pound vegan frankfurters or vegan sausage, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

Soak kidney beans in 3 cups water overnight.

Sautee onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic in 3 tablespoons olive oil for 3 minutes in a big pot.

Drain soaked kidney beans and put into the pot, along with 3 cups water, bay leaf, cayenne, thyme, sage, parsley, Creole seasoning, and black pepper. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to medium low and simmer for 2 hours. Add some water during cooking if beans dry out in order to maintain a sauce with the beans.

In a skillet, saute vegan frankfurters or vegan sausage in 2 tablespoons olive oil until lightly browned and add to kidney beans. Simmer kidney beans with frankfurters or sausage 15 minutes.

While the kidney beans are cooking, prepare the basmati rice by bringing to boil in 2 ¼ cups of water in a small pot and then covering the pot tightly and lowering heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes or until done.

Serve kidney beans over rice and garnish with chopped green onions. Add dashes of Louisiana hot sauce to taste, and enjoy a delicious and healthy Deep South traditional dish of red beans and rice.

Servings: 4
Prep time: 2 ½ hours plus bean soaking time

About: Kim Hester is a vegan and a writer, currently writing a novel entitled Beyond the Abyss in which the protagonist is a vegan living in a country in the Middle East where veganism and vegetarianism are virtually unheard of. Moreover the protagonist is married to a man from steak-eating Amarillo, Texas, Yet she remains true to her vegan lifestyle throughout all. For a selection from the novel and other samples of his writing, visit Kim’s author’s blog at http://kimhester.org