I owe my Abuela an apology. Every year, she made Congri for Thanksgiving, and I never even tasted it. There were already so many of my favorite dishes on the table, and I thought congri was an outlier that didn’t match the rest of the menu. I think Peter Gascon was the only person that had a taste on Thanksgiving Day before we packed the dish away for leftovers.
Years later, on my first visit to New Orleans, I was served a plate of Red Beans and Rice. It was delicious. I realized it is basically congri with the bacon and ham hock swapped for andouille sausage. So many plates of congri I missed out on.
All these years later, I searched online and the first recipe I came across was a video titled “Congri-the Perfect Thanksgiving Side Dish.”
Congri (Cuban rice with kidney beans)
Ingredients
- 14 ounces dried red kidney beans
- 1 pound smoked ham hocks optional
- 1 pound bacon or pork belly
- 6 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 white onion
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups reserved bean broth
- 2 cups white rice
Instructions
- In a small pot, add the dried beans, ham hock, and bay leaves to the water. Simmer until soft.
- Dice the bacon.
- Dice the onion and peppers.
- Sauté the bacon in a Dutch oven until crispy. Remove to a plate.
- Sauté the onion, garlic and peppers in the bacon fat.
- Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid.
- Shred the meat from the ham hock.
- Rinse the rice and add it to the onions and peppers along with the shredded ham, cumin, oregano, salt, bacon, and beans.
- Add two cups of the reserved bean broth to the pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer and cook 20 minutes. Uncover, fluff the rice, cover, and cook 10 minutes longer.