Anyone who is responsible for feeding his/her family will tell you that having a few simple, go-to meals for “those nights” can make life a lot easier. This “Rice and Bean Pie” recipe uses just a few ingredients that I normally have on hand. It’s also vegetarian which is great since many these days are choosing to eat less meat, whether for health, environmental or budget reasons.
Vegetarian Rice and Bean Pie
I got this Rice and Bean Pie recipe many years ago from an online friend. She was feeding a mix of meat eaters and vegetarians in her family and said this was enjoyed by all. I’ve made it several times over the years and we really enjoy it.
Rice and Bean Pie
Ingredients
- 2 cans beans (red, pinto, black - your choice) drain and rinse lightly
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1.5 cups water
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube (or chicken, if not vegetarian)
- 3/4 cup uncooked white rice
- 3/4 cup onion, chopped
- 3/4 cup bell pepper (red or green)
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 beaten eggs
- 1.5 cups cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
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Place drained and rinsed beans in large bowl, add cumin and stir to coat. Set aside.
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Bring water and bouillon cube to a boil, add rice and simmer, covered for 20 minutes.
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Sauté onion and bell pepper in butter until onion is tender.
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Add onion/bell pepper mixture and beaten eggs to cooked rice.
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Oil a 9 inch pie pan and put rice mixture into pan, pressing with a spoon to form the "crust".
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Spread with cottage cheese and top with beans.
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Sprinkle cheese on top and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let set a few minutes before cutting. Serve with hot sauce.
I like to add a dollop of sour cream to each serving and then serve it with tortilla chips and salsa, and a simple green salad.
It’s a flexible recipe, too. I’ve added drained, canned corn, sliced black olives, green enchilada sauce and diced tomatoes. The original recipe calls for cheddar but if you like things spicy, you could substitute pepper jack. Give it a try!
Updated version for vegans:
Tori, a blog friend, is vegan. We had discussed how she might make a vegan version and I shared a recipe I found for “cottage cheese”. The one I found seemed a little complicated but she developed another recipe. She gave it a try and then graciously shared with me how she “veganized” this recipe. Here is what she did in her words:
I don’t use an actual egg replacement, so since I figured the egg was
mainly to help the base stay together, I used some corn flour
(cornstarch) to do that job (arrowroot can also be substituted by
those not wanting to use either corn flour or an egg replacement).I think the thing you most wanted to know about was the cottage cheese
experiment though.Well, it worked. At least, it tasted cottage cheese like, Kelly said
it looked a lot like cottage cheese, and it tasted good in the pie.
It also had a whole lot less ingredients, and a whole lot less steps
involved than the one you linked to (which is the only one I’ve ever
seen before). So, here’s the recipe I put together:Vegan Cottage Cheese
Ingredients:
1/3 cup (80ml) soya milk (or other plant milk)
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
8oz (220g) silken tofu (I use Blue Dragon when I want silken, but
doubt the brand matters)
1 teaspoon chopped chivesMethod:
In a blender, combine half the tofu, the milk, vinegar, salt, pepper,
and nutritional yeast.
Blend until smooth.
Pour this mixture out into a bowl.
Add the chopped chives, and mix well.
Crumble the rest of the tofu and add this to the smooth cheese mixture.
Fold it in gently so you don’t break up the tofu completely.
Enjoy.
Thank you so much, Tori!
Tori is an author and she blogs about books, reading, and her pets. If you’d like to check out Tori’s blog here is the link:
Links to a few more vegetarian recipes here on Life With Dee:
Sour Cream Green Chili Enchiladas
Black Bean Burgers and Homemade Buns
Interesting recipe. Thanks for sharing it. I’m going to have to come up with a veganized variation so I can try it.
It would be easy to substitute oil for the butter and use a vegan cheese. I got to wondering about the cottage cheese part and found this recipe for vegan cottage cheese – https://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-cottage-cheese/ . But it seems like a lot of work. I think just a thin layer of creamy tofu would work just fine. Let me know what you come up with and I’ll add your suggestions to the post and link back to your blog.
It was something tofu based I was thinking. I’ll try my idea, and see how it works out. If it works, I’ll tell you what I did.
Thanks for that link though. Going to hold on to that one.