Any time someone asks the question, ‘What exactly is soul food?’ the answer should always be ‘a comforting bowl of red beans and rice.’ Just sit them down, give them a spoon, and when they finish, ask them if they understand. They will.
Preparation Details
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 3 hrs 15 mins
Total Time: 3 hrs 45 mins
Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry red kidney beans
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 12 ounces andouille sausage, diced
- 1 cup finely diced onion
- ¾ cup chopped celery
- ¾ cup poblano peppers
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 quarts chicken broth, or more as needed
- 1 smoked ham hock
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
- hot sauce to taste
- 4 cups cooked white rice
- 2 tablespoons chopped green onion, or to taste
Steps
- Place beans in a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 8 hours to overnight. Drain and rinse.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir sausage in hot oil until oils slightly release from sausage and edges brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir onion, celery, and poblano pepper into sausage; cook and stir until vegetables soften and start to turn translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir garlic into sausage mixture; cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir red beans, chicken broth, ham hock, bay leaves, black pepper, thyme, cayenne pepper, and hot sauce into the sausage mixture; bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/2 hours. Add salt and continue simmering until beans are soft, meat is tender, and desired consistency is reached, 1 1/2 to 2 hours more. Season with salt.
- Spoon rice into bowls, ladle red beans mixture over rice, and top with green onion.
