Creole-inspired vegan rice and beans

Beans and rice are a classic comfort food in various cultures. Creole cooking is packed full of flavors and spices and I have used some of those flavors as an inspiration for this recipe. I have used a mix of garbanzo beans and red beans for this recipe but you can use only red beans if you wish. This makes a perfectly balanced, healthy meal since it has protein from the beans, carbohydrates from the rice and macro and micro-nutrients from the vegetables and spices. What makes it even better is that it is a one-pot recipe! Perfect for a 30 minute week-night dinner. You can opt for canned beans or you can soak raw beans and cook them during the weekend and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. They will be good for up to 7 days and are very useful for quick week-night dinners like this. I really enjoy this recipe and hope you do too! It also makes great left-overs for next day's lunch.

Serves: 4, Prep. time: 10 minutes, Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 1/3 cup finely chopped red onion

• 2 green onions, bulbs and greens finely chopped

• 2 stalks of celery, finely chopped

• 1/3 cup finely chopped carrots

• 1 red jalapeno, de-seeded and sliced

• 1/3 cup finely chopped green bell pepper

• 1 cup cooked red beans

• 1 cup cooked garbanzo beans

• 1 cup uncooked, unwashed rice

• 2 bay leaves

• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

• 1 tbsp ground cumin

• 1/2 tbsp garlic powder

• 2 tbsp mild or medium Creole seasoning

• 1 tsp dried thyme

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• salt and crushed black pepper for seasoning

• Fresh parsley for garnish

Directions:

1. I used an electric pressure cooker but this can also be made in a large pot. Heat the oil and add the bay leaves. After a minute, add the onions (red and green), garlic, carrots and celery. Stir for 3-4 minutes until vegetables are tender.

2. Then add the sliced jalapeno and green bell pepper and stir for 2 more minutes.

3. Next, in a small bowl, add all the dry spices. Pour this mixture of dry spices into the pressure cooker/pot and mix well to coat all the vegetables. The Creole seasoning is usually quite salty so you will not need too much extra salt. The black pepper is optional since there is already a lot of spice from the jalapeno and the Creole seasoning.

4. Next, add the cooked beans and the uncooked rice. Add 2 cups of water, put the lid on and cook for 30 minutes in the pressure cooker. If cooking in a pot, partially cover with lid and cook until rice is tender.

5. Let the pressure cooker release its pressure naturally. Garnish the rice and beans with parsley and serve hot.