El Salvador: Cinnamon-Ginger Rice-Shake

In Monterey once, my mother and I were thrift-storing. In one particularly moldy, ill-ventilated hole-in-the-wall, we came upon a battered tube of metal. My mother practically turned cartwheels with glee at the sight.

"It's just a blender, Mom."

"No no no! It's a Vit-a-Mixer!"

"It's ugly."

"Is not."

She bought it for $10 and "to Vit-a-Mix" became a verb in our household. We Vit-a-Mixed up some soup for a quick snack. Strawberries were Vit-a-Mixed for sauces. Rice was Vit-a-Mixed into rice flour. When I started graduate school, my mom bought me a new Vit-a-Mixer, no longer the ugly tube of metal but a lovely, enormous blending demon.

Today I Vit-a-Mixed up some El Salvadorian cinnamon-ginger rice drink. I tell the Vit-a-Mix story because it's really the only one for this recipe, which is nice but not particularly worth repeating.

El Salvador: Cinnamon-Ginger Rice-Shake
Serves 2

3 cups water
2 Tbsp rice
1 large pepper (I'm a wimp – I left this out)
1 Tbsp sugar
Small piece of ginger
Dash o' Cinnamon

Heat the water, rice, cinnamon, pepper, and ginger. Cook for 1 hour on low heat, allow to cool, add some of the water, the rice, and the sugar to a blender. Blend. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve warm and frothy.

Belize: Belinean Rice and Beans

Rice and beans, rice and beans, the rest of the world eats quite a lot of rice and beans. Abkhazian lobio, Aland pancakes, Bangladeshi rice and lentils, Greek rice and tomatoes, nasi goreng, Nepali fried rice, Uzbek fennel rice. Truth to tell, my patience was wearing thin with rice and beans.

So when I realized that the only recipe I had ingredients for last night was Belinean Rice and Beans, I felt – for the first time in my Cook-The-World Campaign – bored. The only interesting ingredient was the coconut milk, so I made it. I half expected another spunky Caribbean dish: coconut, onion, garlic.

But no. The combination of thyme and coconut was immensely soothing. Maybe it's just because it was another cold and rainy May day in Boston, but I place this dish squarely in the warm and wonderful realm of comfort food.

I'll try to remember the strange soothingness of this Belinean dish when I tire in the future – as surely I will – of the relentless progression of rice and beans.


Belinean Rice and Beans
Makes enough for 8

1/2 pound red kidney beans (~2 cups, uncooked)
1 medium onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
2 cups rice
1 cup thick coconut milk
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried thyme

Soak the beans overnight in water.

Combine beans, onion, and garlic in a pot with enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the beans are tender – about 20 minutes. Add the rice, coconut milk, salt, and thyme. Cook, covered, over low heat until the rice is done and all the liquid is absorbed, adding a little water if the liquid is absorbed before the rice is done.

Eat warm, preferably on a cold and rainy day.