🇨🇷 Costa Rican Cuisine

Rice and Beans (Caribbean)

Limon-Style Coconut Rice and Red Beans

Prep Time 10 min

Servings 6

Difficulty Easy

Calories 341 kcal

Red beans and rice cooked together in coconut milk with thyme and scotch bonnet — the aromatic Caribbean coast staple that differs completely from gallo pinto.

Ingredients

2 cups long-grain rice
1 can (400g) red kidney beans, drained
400ml coconut milk
1.5 cups water
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 scotch bonnet pepper, whole
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp coconut oil

Instructions

1 Heat coconut oil in a pot. Add rice and stir 1 min to toast lightly.
2 Add coconut milk, water, beans, thyme, scotch bonnet, and salt.
3 Bring to a boil, then cover tightly and reduce to lowest heat.
4 Cook 20 min without lifting the lid.
5 Remove scotch bonnet and thyme. Fluff with a fork. Serve.

Did You Know?

On the Caribbean coast, rice and beans is cooked in coconut milk and uses red beans — completely different from the Pacific side's black-bean gallo pinto, causing a delicious east-west divide.