This recipe is for an army, perhaps 6-8 adults--also depending if you serve by itself or with chips or in burrito (I use the rice sometimes for other dishes, the left-over guac is great on pitas & sammies, or potatoes (just think, it can replace vegan mayo for a potato salad), etc. The black beans can be used for other dishes & the salsa is wonderful to have around for a snack.). If you don't need the left-overs or aren't serving an army, just cut the recipe in half.
This is a 4 part dish, start your rice and your beans, then begin whipping up your salsa & fresh guac.
You will need a food processor & if you like creamy whipped guac, you can use a blender or processor.
Can't stress enough to use organic & local food as much as possible.
*Note: This recipe goes great with Blue Corn Chips.
Cilantro Rice & Kale:
2 C uncooked Wehani rice, cook according to package instructions, I like to add about 1-2 Tbsp of EVOO & a dash of salt to cook the rice (rarely do I use vegan butter for my rice).
Wehani is a wonderful chewy almost peanut smelling rice. It's a type of brown rice, if you can't find Wahani, brown basmati, brown jasmine, or brown rice will suffice. You can even use a wild rice, or wild rice mix, I have done this in the past w/pleasing results.
After rice is thoroughly cooked and cooled add:
1/2 C fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 of a juiced lemon (save other half for salsa)
black pepper to taste
Kale: boil or steam up about 4 cups of chopped kale tops., rinse w/cold water after cooked to desired tenderness (don't over cook, otherwise you will lose nutrients & color), drain & squeeze out excess water, then mix into rice.
Just Black Beans:
2 cans of org. black beans (you can also can use cooked dry black beans), drained & rinsed. If you want warm or spiced beans, add them to a pot w/a bit of water (enough to cover beans), add a bit of fresh or dried thyme, paprika, & black pepper. NO salt. If you don't want them cold/room temp, and don't wish to season, just place them in a bowl ready to assemble your burrito bowls.
Mild-Medium Hot Walnut Salsa (food processor):
1 bunch of green onions, (discard roots, chop, then only add 1/2 of the green part of the onions to the food processor, save the other half of greens for garnish, and save the white part of the onion for the guacomole., If you like more onion if your salsa, you can use onion powder or add more green onions)
1 pint of tomatoes (I used org. grape tomatoes for recipe pictured)
1/2 C whole raw walnuts
6 mini sweet colored peppers or 2 sm-med colored bell peppers
2-3 jalapeño peppers (optional), remove tops, discard seeds if you don't want your salsa too spicy
1/8 C filtered water
1/2 freshly juiced lemon (other half should be for rice)
1 Tbsp EVOO (aka: extra virgin olive oil)
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp maple sugar (or you may use maple syrup if you can't find or other vegan sugar substitute)
4 garlic cloves
dash of oregano (fresh or dried)
dash of thyme (optional, fresh or dried)
dash of salt
Place walnuts, garlic, spices, onions, lemon juice, oil, water, jalapeño (if using), and vinegar into processor, blend thoroughly. Now add tomatoes & sweet peppers and pulse until desired salsa chunkiness.
Guacamole (food processor or blender):
(If you don't want a whipped creamy guac, sometimes I crave a thick chunky guac, just mash your avocados w/a potato masher or fork, and put the rest of the ingredients in the food processor or blender, then when thoroughly blended, poor into bowl w/mashed avocados, then thoroughly blend ingredients for desired result.)
4 small avocados or 2 large
1 C fresh cilantro (blender will grind stems & leaves)
2 lemons or 3 limes juiced
Green onions (white parts), read note from salsa
3 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp sea salt
black pepper to taste
How to assemble your burrito plate or bowl: first drop a layer of rice, then add your beans (drained), salsa, then a heap of fresh guac. Can be served w/a side of blue corn chips or used as a nacho dip for your blue corn chips (Note: blue corn is good for you kiddies--antioxidant rich, less starch and a lower glycemic (GI) that does not change over time/during shelf life, + 20% more protein than white corn, we eat an org. blue corn w/sesame chip in this household. Mmm).
Btw, since we are on the topic of *blue* antioxidants, I made a vegan wild blueberry sorbet as a dessert to follow the burrito bowl, made for a delicious follow-up, and calmed the spices from the meal.
