Black Beans with Shredded Chicken and Apple Salsa

Serves 4

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You’ll need:
for the rice and beans:
1 C brown rice, soaked in 2C water + 1T lemon juice overnight
1 C dried black beans, soaked overnight

(alternatively, you could use 2 cans of organic black beans)
1 1″piece of kombu
1 bay leaf
4-6 C vegetable stock or water
1 large red onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 t cumin seeds, toasted (optional on the toasting)
1/2 t ground coriander

for the chicken:
1 lb chicken (I like to use thighs and legs)

some fresh lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

sprinkling of ground cumin

for the salsa:
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced
2 T cilantro, chopped (or more if you love it!)
2 scallions, finely chopped
juice of 1 lime (or lemon if you don’t have limes)
sea salt to taste

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To make:

Preheat oven to 350.

1. Cook the rice- Add a pinch of salt and set on high heat until it reaches a boil. Then reduce to simmer and cover.  It should take about 40 minutes.  (Yes, you are cooking the rice in the same water it soaked in.)
2. Cook the beans- Discard soaking water and rinse beans.  Put beans in a pot with water (or stock), kombu and bay leaf over high heat until it reaches a boil.  Reduce heat to medium and cook until beans are tender.
3. Get the chicken in the oven- Once rinsed and dried, sprinkle with salt (be generous), pepper and some cumin and add lemon juice.  (Sometimes I add a touch of olive oil for good measure.)  Let roast in the oven until done, about 40 minutes depending on cuts used.
4. In a large saute pan, heat olive oil and add onions.  After about 5 minutes, add the garlic, cumin seeds and coriander.  Caramelize until tender and slightly browned.
5. When beans are done, add beans to onion mixture with just enough liquid as you would like.  Over low heat, let cook to allow the onions to soak the beans with flavor.  In the meantime, shred the chicken.
6. To serve- Place rice and beans on plate and top with shredded chicken.  Top that with the apple salsa and serve with extra lime wedges.

YUM!

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P.S. There are ways to make this seemingly involved dinner easier such as using canned beans and buying a rotisserie chicken.  But to be honest, it takes me about 20-25 minutes to get everything prepped and cooking.  Once it’s on the stove/in the oven, dinner’s pretty much done;)