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Belizean Rice and Beans

A Belizean dish of beans and rice cooked with garlic, onion, thyme, pepper, salt, coconut milk, and optional pig's tail.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Belizean Rice and Beans

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the beans

  1. Soak beans for 4-6 hours.

  2. Boil beans until tender with garlic, onion, and pig's tail. (Or use pressure cooker)

  3. Season beans with black pepper, thyme, and salt.

  4. Add coconut milk, stir and taste, then let boil.

Cook the rice

  1. Clean rice.

  2. Add clean rice to seasoned beans, stir, then cover.

  3. Cook until water is absorbed or rice is tender.

  4. If necessary, add more water gradually until rice is tender.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

946Calories
43 gProtein
51 gFat
80 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 11 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Coconut1/2 cup shredded (40g)283
Beef100g cooked250
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
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. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Coconut + ricetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,063 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

  4. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Thyme + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,608 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Beans
Provide the main body, protein and texture of the dish.
Rice
Forms the bulk of the dish and absorbs the cooking liquid as it becomes tender.
Coconut milk
Adds richness, creaminess and a subtle sweetness to the rice and beans.
Onion
Softens while cooking and adds savory sweetness and aroma to the pot.

The step that matters

Adding water to the rice. Rice absorbs liquid as it cooks, so adding water gradually lets it reach tenderness without drying out or turning mushy. Too little water leaves the rice firm, while too much makes it soggy.

Swap the coconut

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

  1. Limefits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Coconutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, pepper, thyme, garlic, onion, milk, 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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