Riz et Pois Collés

Haiti's rice cooked in the dark liquor of red kidney beans with thyme, cloves and a whole scotch bonnet, until the grains stain and stick

Origin: Port-au-Prince & Haiti

From the journey of Beans.

Riz et pois collés, in Haitian Creole diri kole ak pwa, is rice cooked in bean liquor until the two are inseparable. Collés means stuck together, and the name describes both the technique and the result: the beans are cooked first, their dark cooking water becomes the entire liquid for the rice, and the finished grains are stained purple-brown and cling to one another. The rice-and-beans pairing runs the length of the Caribbean and changes with each island: Jamaica cooks its rice and peas in coconut milk with a sprig of thyme, Cuba mixes black beans through white rice as moros y cristianos, Puerto Rico builds arroz con gandules on pigeon peas and sofrito, and Belize adds coconut milk and calls the word order a matter of precision. Haiti's version uses red kidney beans, no coconut, and a great deal of thyme and clove. What these dishes share is nutritional as much as cultural. Rice is low in the amino acid lysine and legumes are low in methionine, and the two together supply a complete protein that neither does alone. Populations across West Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America arrived at the pairing independently and repeatedly, and it is the single most widespread staple combination on earth. The bean liquor is not to be thrown away under any circumstances. It carries the colour, the starch that helps the grains stick, and most of the flavour, and a Haitian cook who drains the beans and cooks the rice in water has made something else. Some households reserve a few whole beans to stir back at the end and purée the rest into the liquor, which gives a darker, creamier result.

Ingredients

Beans

  • 250 g dried red kidney beans, soaked overnight
  • 1.5 litres water
  • 1 onion, quartered
  • 6 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 6 sprigs thyme
  • 4 whole cloves

Rice

  • 400 g long-grain rice, rinsed until the water runs clear
  • 3 tbsp oil or 60g salt pork, diced
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 4 spring onions, chopped
  • 1 whole scotch bonnet, left unbroken
  • 4 sprigs thyme

Seasoning

  • 2 tsp salt, or to taste
  • 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Method

  1. Drain the soaked beans and cook them in the 1.5 litres of water with the quartered onion, crushed garlic, thyme, and cloves for an hour to an hour and a quarter, until tender.
  2. Do not salt the beans while they cook, which keeps the skins tough, and do not drain them at the end.
  3. Strain the beans, keeping every drop of the liquor, and measure it: you need 700ml, so top up with water or reduce it.
  4. That dark liquor is the colour, the flavour, and the starch that makes the grains stick. Cooking the rice in fresh water gives a pale, loose, ordinary pilaf.
  5. In a heavy pot, render the salt pork or heat the oil, then soften the chopped onion, garlic, and spring onions for six minutes.
  6. Add the drained beans and turn them through for two minutes.
  7. Add the rinsed rice and stir it in the fat for a minute so every grain is coated.
  8. Pour in the 700ml of bean liquor, add the salt, pepper, thyme sprigs, and the whole scotch bonnet on top.
  9. The scotch bonnet is never cut. Whole, it perfumes the pot; split, it makes the rice too hot for children, who eat this daily.
  10. Bring to a boil, stir once, then cover tightly and cook on the lowest heat for twenty-two minutes without lifting the lid.
  11. Take it off the heat and leave it covered for a further ten minutes.
  12. Lift out the scotch bonnet and the thyme stalks, fork the rice through gently, and serve with griot, stewed chicken, or fried fish.

Notes

The bean cooking liquor is the whole recipe; never drain it away. Do not salt the beans while they cook. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. The scotch bonnet goes in whole. Tinned beans work if the liquid from the tin is supplemented with stock, though the colour will be paler. A crust on the bottom of the pot is wanted rather than avoided, and in Haiti it has its own name and is served deliberately.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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