Jess Prescott’s Pumpkin and black bean baked rice

Name: Jess Prescott’s Pumpkin and black bean baked rice
Cuisine: Mexican, Latin American, American
Ingredients: generous glug of olive oil; 1 red onion, ﬁnely chopped; 2 garlic cloves, ﬁnely chopped; 1½ teaspoons ground cumin; 1½ teaspoons ground coriander; 1½ teaspoons sweet smoked paprika; 440g (generous 2 cups) long-grain white rice; 400g tin black beans, drained and rinsed (or 260g/1½ cups beloved black beans, drained but not rinsed); ¼ pumpkin (approx. 500g), halved, seeded and cut into 5mm-thick wedges; 2 teaspoons salt; 1 litre (4 cups) water; 2 tomatoes, ﬁnely chopped; 1 fresh jalapeno (or ½ green capsicum if you can't do spicy), seeded and ﬁnely chopped; handful of fresh coriander leaves, ﬁnely chopped; 1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced; 1 lime, halved; vegan sour cream or cashew cream

5 steps

We all need meals in our repertoire that you can prep ahead of time and throw on when you get home, leaving it to cook itself while you take care of any of the bazillion things on your to-do list. This is one of those meals.

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 09:02:51 GMT

Nutrition balance score

Good

Glycemic Index

Moderate

Glycemic Load

High

Nutrition per serving

Calories628.1 kcal (31%)

Total Fat11.8 g (17%)

Carbs113.6 g (44%)

Sugars6 g (7%)

Protein15.3 g (31%)

Sodium1445.4 mg (72%)

Fiber10.1 g (36%)

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Ingredients

4 servings

1 ½ teaspoonsground cumin

1 ½ teaspoonsground coriander

1 ½ teaspoonssweet smoked paprika

440glong-grain white rice

400gblack beans

tin, drained and rinsed, drained but not rinsed

500gpumpkin

halved, seeded and cut into 5mm-thick wedges

2 teaspoonssalt

1 litrewater

2tomatoes

finely chopped

1fresh jalapeno

or 1/2 green capsicum if you can't do spicy, seeded and finely chopped

fresh coriander leaves

finely chopped

1avocado

ripe, peeled and diced

Instructions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 180 fan-forced (200C conventional).

Step 2

Heat the olive oil in a large casserole pot (Dutch oven) or an ovenproof saucepan over a medium-high heat, add three-quarters of the onion, and cook for a couple of minutes until it is starting to go transparent. Add the garlic and spices and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the rice, beans, pumpkin, salt and water. Increase the heat to high then, once the water is simmering, cover with a lid and transfer to the hot oven to cook for 30 minutes.

Step 3

While the pumpkin and rice are cooking, make a simple salsa by combining the reserved ﬁnely chopped onion with the chopped tomato, jalapeno and coriander leaves in a small bowl.

Step 4

After 30 minutes, remove the dish from the oven, take off the lid, give it a stir, then serve in bowls and top each serving with the salsa, diced avocado, a squeeze of fresh lime and spoonfuls of sour cream or cashew cream.

Step 5

Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, and up to 3 months in the freezer.