Dilip's Anasazi Kichedi (No Added Fat)

I wanted to cook with some Anasazi beans that I had. I cooked with them I think only once before, this past September, and enjoyed them. I was wondering if I could cook them together with some brown rice and read some words of wisdom suggesting caution with trying it since beans and rice can require different cooking times. Since I had soaked the beans overnight (about 11 hours or so), I figured that they would cook in a half hour or less; I don't have a lot of experience cooking brown rice in the pressure cooker, but thought that a half hour sounded reasonable. Here is what I did:


Ingredients

• 1 1/4 Anasazi beans soaked overnight in ample water (other beans like kidney beans would probably do fine, as well; I soaked for about 11 hours)
• 1 cup brown Basmati rice
• 3 cups water
• (optional) Vegan bouillon cube
• 3 cups chopped spinach (I used frozen but fresh would be fine, too)
• 1 cup onion chopped into 3/8" cubes
• 1/2 t (or to taste) salt; I used kala namak ("black salt" that is actually pink in color)
• 1/4 t lemon pepper (or freshly ground black pepper)
• 1/8t ground cumin
• Pinch (less than 1/8 t) each of: garlic powder, turmeric, and turmeric
• (Optional) Finely (less than 1/8") diced ginger to taste - try 1/2 t
• (Optional) Jalapeno to taste (try 1/4 or 1/2 t diced to 3/8" cubes)
• Juice of 1/4 lemon (I used Meyer lemon), or to taste

Process

1. I rinsed the beans then put them, along with the rice, water, and bouillon cube, into my Instant Pot pressure cooker. Beans usually cook in about a half hour with water just covering them, and the brown Basmati calls for a 1 part rice to 2 parts water ratio (cooked for 50m stovetop). I figured I would try 1:3 to include the water to cover the beans.
2. I cooked under high pressure for 28m, planning to open the pot, add some vegetables, and then cook for 2 more minutes. However, when I opened the pot, the rice and beans tasted great and were done, even a bit soft.
3. Instead of cooking for any longer, I added the remaining ingredients except lemon juice. We weren't going to eat for a few hours, so I just replaced the cover.
4. About 10m before eating, I had my wife turn the Instant Pot in "keep warm" mode.
5. When I was ready to serve, I mixed in the lemon juice then served in the center of our plates, surrounded by three tomato wedges.

Results

We all liked the main course - my wife and I particularly loved it. It reminded me of Indian kichedi (lentil and rice dish), so I will name this Dilip's Anasazi Kichedi.

Ideas for the future

I should continue to explore cooking soaked beans with rice. Tonight's dish would have benefited from some ginger and heat from a jalapeno, but was great as it was. I could probably have cooked for a few minutes less but it was fine as it was cooked (maybe I should try 26m). The spinach went great with the dish!