Saffron Rice and Beans
Serves 2–4 Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 19 Steps 11
This recipe originally started as a vegetarian approximation to paella. It has since diverged from its resemblance to paella.
Ingredients
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 small potato, sliced extremely thin
- 1 big onion, cut into chunks or sliced thin
- 2–3 red bell peppers, sliced
- 1–3 tomatoes, cut into cubes or slices
- 5–10 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoon pine nuts
- 1 tablespoon caraway
- 1–3 tablespoon ground oregano
- 1–2 tablespoon ground chile or chile powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1–2 pinch(es) saffron
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 cup basmati rice
- ½ cup red wine
- 1 cube vegetarian bouillon
- 1 can black beans
- Cheese (Parmesan or cotija work best)
Steps
- Heat olive oil in a very large saucepan.
- When hot, add curry powder, potatoes, onions, red peppers and tomatoes. Stir and fry until potatoes are nearly done.
- Reduce heat. Stir in crushed garlic, pine nuts, caraway, half the dried oregano and chili powder.
- Bring 1 ¾ cup water to a boil in a separate lidded pot.
- Make rice spice mix from paprika, pinch of saffron, cumin and remaining oregano. Mix with basmati rice.
- When water boils, reduce heat. Add rice and spice mix. Cover and simmer 10 min.
- Add wine and bouillon cube to tomato mixture. Stir, turn heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, while rice cooks.
- Simmer rice another 10 min, then remove from heat.
- When saucepan contents appear to fry again instead of simmer, stir in rice.
- When liquid is absorbed by rice, stir in beans.
- Turn off heat. Serve with cheese.
Notes from the original
- For a vegan variation, serve without cheese.
- This dish is easier to cook if the potatoes are left out altogether.
- Most vegetables go well in this dish. Feel free to chop up any vegetable and throw it in the pan during the initial frying stage.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Saffron Rice and Beans” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-19, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.