Black Bean Brown Rice Bowl (vegan)

I wasn’t able to come up with a better name for this meal. It would be easy to put the word “Southern” in front of the dish name, but that would be false advertising. It is a black bean meal. It has brown rice. You serve it in a bowl. It is a complete protein, though, so eat up! The thing I like about this meal is that it can be eaten hot or cold. If you let it sit overnight in the fridge before serving, the flavours blend together for extra tastiness.

It looks like this summer will give me a hard time blog-wise. My apartment is on the warmer side. It’s 24C outside right now, and it already feels too warm indoors to use the oven or the stove. I guess that’s what happens when you live on the 5th floor with massive windows but only a small window opening. Let’s wait and see what happens when it’s 45 degrees in July. I do have plans to do a mostly raw detox at some point when I have more time to cook, so maybe this summer will be more about no-cook recipes.

I rushed home yesterday after work to cook this and write this post. My schedule’s been so packed. I’m still working full time (and beyond) while taking summer courses, with the hope of finishing my bachelor’s degree in July.

Black Bean and Brown Rice Bowl

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked brown rice
2 cups water
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup button mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion, finely chopped
Approximately 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce (or salsa)
1 can black beans, drained
Salt to taste

Directions
Combine rice, water, and chili powder in a small to medium pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until all the water has been absorbed.

In the meantime, chop the bell pepper and the onion and slice the mushrooms. Cook in a skillet or a frying pan with a bit of oil over medium low heat until the onion is translucent, then remove from heat. When the rice is done cooking, combine all the ingredients together and serve.