Lea's Cuban Rice

Years ago (about 20!) when we lived in Florida, my hubby and I used to hang out with another couple quite often. The husband of the other couple (a trucker like my hubby) was Cuban and, though his young wife was Italian, his Mom had taught her how to make a few of his favorite Cuban dishes so that she could prepare them for him. The following recipe is very close to the rice dish she made for him at least once a week.... A 1/2 cup serving does have 34 net carbs, but it also has 6 grams of protein and only 197 calories. It is a very versatile dish for a meal on a day when you have carbs to spare! After the recipe, there are some notes for changes you can make, etc... Lea's Cuban Rice 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp chopped/minced garlic 1/2 tsp cumin salt/pepper to taste (or other seasonings you enjoy) 1/2 cup chopped green peppers 2 small onions (chopped or sliced/slivered) 1/2 cup wine (I used Gallo's Chardonnay) 1 can diced tomatoes (15 oz) 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (15 oz) 1 can tomato sauce (8 oz) 3 cups water 1 cup chicken broth (low sodium, low fat) 2 cups raw, uncooked basmati rice Put olive oil in a 12" non-stick skillet with at least 2" side walls and heat it. (You could use a dutch oven for this also!) Add garlic, green peppers, cumin, salt/pepper/other seasonings and onions and cook these till onions begin to become translucent. Pour in wine and stir well. Allow to continue to cook for 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes (juice and all), black beans (drained and rinsed unless you like the black color the rice takes from the bean sauce), tomato sauce, water, and chicken broth. Bring this all back to a boil. Add basmati rice (or another rice if you don't have it, but nutrition facts will be different). Bring back to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook covered till rice is tender and done--approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Stir occasionally and watch that it doesn't get too dry. Add more water if necessary to avoid this. Nutrition facts for rice dish prepared as directed above: serving size--1/2 cup servings per recipe--approx 10 (depends on size of onions and peppers) Calories--197 Fat Calories--3.6 Total Fat--0.4 Sat Fat--0 Trans Fat--0 Cholesterol--0 Sodium--325 Carbs--40 Fiber--6 Sugars--1.5 Protein--6 Notes/aterations/serving suggestions: 1) You could use a full 15 oz can of tomato sauce if you like a more tomato-ey taste/sauce. This will alter the nutrition facts, but primarily affects the sodium amount. 2) The wine IS optional and does not add a lot of calories (about 8 per serving!) and such to the recipe. The alcohol cooks off, so there is no chance of intoxication from too much rice! It adds greatly to the flavor of the dish. 3) This goes great with chicken--either on the side, or cooked in the rice dish. In the past, I have cooked chicken thighs till about 2/3 of the way done (bake, broil, pan fry) and then placed the chicken IN the top of the rice dish before you reduce the heat and cover/simmer to cook the rice. It is all a matter of preference! You can also use chopped pieces of boneless/skinless chicken breast or thigh and add them while sauteeing the onions/peppers. For nutrition facts, calculate chicken info seperately. 4) The chicken broth is optional and can be replaced by an equal amount of water. This will reduce the sodium by about 100 mgs but has virtually no other affect on the recipe. 5) I often use frozen chopped peppers. Walmart has a line of frozen veggies called Pictsweet. You can find them at some other grocers, but most Walmarts have them. Pictsweet has a 12 oz bag of chopped, frozen green peppers. They are about $1.20 and are great to keep on hand for omlets and dishes like this! 6) Diced tomatoes can be replaced by crushed tomatoes or you can use whole tomatoes and dice them yourself. You could use fresh tomatoes and chop them to suit your tastes. This will reduce the sodium amount in the dish. 7) Other types of beans could be substituted for the black beans if you have another preference--kidney, navy, pinto, etc... Many beans are very, very similar nutritionally and subbing an equal amount of another bean won't have much effect on the overal nutrition facts. 8) Leftovers from this rice dish could be used to fill stuffed green peppers but you'd need a bit more of a sauce to it. You could add a jarred spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce to achieve this. You could also stir in browned ground beef, turkey, or chicken while adding the sauce for a meaty filling with even more protein!