Cajun Vegan Red Beans and Rice

🧂 Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced

  (1 ½ cup)
• 1 medium green bell pepper, diced

  (1 cup)
• 3 stalks of celery, diced

  (1 cup)
• 1 lb red beans
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 4 cups water
• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 whole bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon cajun seasoning
• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 2 teaspoon low sodium tamari or low sodium soy sauce
• Hot sauce to taste
• Fresh chopped parsley

Instructions

• 1 Soak the dry red beans in a large pot of water the night before. Make sure the
  water covers the beans by at least 2 inches. The beans will expand as they soak.
  Then drain the next day and set aside.
• 2 Saute the garlic, celery, green bell pepper, and onion over medium heat in the
  olive oil for about 5 minutes in a large pot or dutch oven. The onions should be
  translucent and just softened.
• 3 Add the soaked red beans, baking soda, vegetable stock, water, thyme, bay leaf,
  and smoked paprika. Now, bring to a boil over high heat. Then once the beans
  reach a boil, turn down the heat and simmer on low for 2 hours with the lid
  cracked. Stir from time to time making sure that no beans are sticking to the
  bottom of the pot. If the water gets low add more as needed.
• 4 After cooking for 2 hours the beans should be nice and tender. If not, just keep
  cooking for another 10 to 20 minutes. Once the beans are good and soft, mash
  some of the beans against the side of the pot with the back of a spoon. This
  will thicken the beans to create the classic authentic texture of red beans.
• 5 Next, add the cajun seasoning, low sodium tamari, liquid smoke, and cayenne.
  Then allow the beans to simmer for another 30 minutes.
• 6 Taste your beans one last time and season with salt if needed. You likely won't
  need to add any salt because the vegetable stock, tamari, and cajun seasoning
  has salt in it. However, if you used a no salt or low salt version of any of
  those ingredients you will likely need more.
• 7 Serve the red beans topped with a scoop of warm rice, a sprinkle of fresh
  chopped parsley, and a dash of hot sauce. Enjoy!

Nutrition Info