Serves 4
This deeply savoury dish of soft black beans and plump black rice is way more than the sum of its parts. Black rice, or riso nerone is packed with deep purple pigments that have powerful antioxidant properties and prebiotic gut health benefits. The dish has layers of subtle spice flavours, roasty bits and a sort of soothing succulence that I long for when I need a comforting bowl of food to snuggle up with when the weather is foul. Your gut microbes will find it equally tantalising as it boasts a good range of different prebiotics, anti-inflammatory aromatics and diverse ingredients – diversity is the key to a robust gut microbiome!
2 red onions
3 sticks of celery
4 cloves of garlic (or use garlic oil)
4 tablespoons of olive oil
3 tsp zattar (or 2 tsp thyme + 1 tsp sesame seeds)
3 tsp fennel seeds
salt
1 kilo squash (butternut, crown prince, harlequin etc)
2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
2 tsp nigella seeds
2 kilos of carrots or a mixture of roots
3 tsp cumin seeds
200g short grain black rice soaked for 1-2 hours (or short grain brown or red rice)
1 lemon
240g cooked black beans (120g dried or a 400g can)
600ml bone broth or vegetable stock or water
20g flat leaf parsley
80g feta cheese or labneh or coconut yogurt
Preheat the oven to 180ºC
Dice the onions and celery and finely chop 3 cloves of garlic. Gently heat a tablespoon of olive oil and add the onions, celery and garlic to the pan with the zattar and fennel seeds and a good pinch of salt. Sauté gently for about 15 minutes until the onions are soft, sweet and translucent.
While the onions soften, deseed and slice the squash into chip sized wedges – peel only if it has a very tough skin. Put the squash into a mixing bowl, drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil and turn it over to coat. Tip onto a baking sheet, sprinkle with some sea salt and the mustard and nigella seeds. Repeat with the carrots (or other roots), scrubbed and cut in half or quarters lengthways according to the size of the root. Aim for fat chip size and use a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to coat them before tipping out and sprinkling with a little salt and the cumin seeds. Roast for about 45-60 minutes until tender and just catching on the edges. Keep warm until the rice is ready.
Drain the rice and add to the soft onions with the black beans and the zest of half a lemon. Stir and pour in the broth, stock or water (or use the liquid from the can of beans topped up with water) bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently until the liquid is all absorbed and the rice is plump and cooked. Do not stir at all while it cooks.
Finely chop together the flat leaved parsley, a garlic clove and the rest of the lemon zest with a pinch of sea salt to make gremolata – or just garnish with chopped parsley. Serve the rice in bowls, with the squash, cherry tomatoes on top and gremolata sprinkled over. Crumble the feta or dot labneh over the whole thing and dig in.
*In the summer I substitute cherry tomatoes and aubergine for the roots and squash.