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Brown Beans with Rice

A savory stew of brown beans, onions, tomatoes, celery leaves, hot pepper, bouillon, and spices served over brown rice.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,713 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Brown Beans with Rice

Timeabout ten minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stew

  1. Simmer onions a few minutes.

  2. Add tomatoes and bouillon cube. Simmer until slightly thickened.

  3. Season with black pepper.

  4. Add brown beans, celery leaves, and whole hot pepper. Add enough cooking water.

  5. Simmer until the liquid thickens, about ten minutes.

  6. Season with nutmeg and additional pepper.

Serve

  1. Serve the rice topped with the beans, finely cut hot pepper, and a cucumber salad.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

290Calories
7 gProtein
2 gFat
62 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Beannot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beans + ricetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,017 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Brown beans
Provide the main body and protein of the stew, and thicken it as their starch releases during simmering.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity, breaking down during simmering to thicken the sauce.
Onions
Build the savoury base of the stew as they soften and sweeten while simmering.
Cooked brown rice
Serves as the starchy base that soaks up the thick bean stew.

The step that matters

Simmer until the liquid thickens. Reducing the liquid concentrates flavour and lets starch from the beans thicken the stew. Stopping too early leaves it thin and watery, while over-reducing can make it pasty or stick to the pot.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, onion, tomato, pepper, rice):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, onion, tomato, pepper, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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