Hossa! Welcome to Leafbiting week 2. Each year,  Foshu runs Leafbiting and invites others to join in. I use this as a means to test my resolve and to expand my cooking repertoire into more and more tasty meals I can make throughout the year. I don't tend to cook meat for myself much anyways, so this works out great for me.

I'll look at posting some of my favorites each week until the start of December.

This week's dish doesn't have a proper name, I just call it spice rice - as it is reasonably spicy - and it is one of my favorite meals even outside of Leafbiting. Spicy, heavy on the peppers and cumin, it is technically a Texmex goulash.

The dish usually calls for chicken stock, but you can find a really good substitute here, or using Better Than Bouillon. The recipe also uses a rice cooker, and though this isn't necessarily required, a rice cooker is an amazing addition to your kitchen if you eat a lot of rice, lentils, or beans. A food processor/chopper is required. The difficulty isn't very high, easy to medium, but there is a lot of pepper chopping involved. I highly recommend you wash your hands with soap after chopping the peppers and prior to the next time you touch your face, eyes, or anyone's genitals.

1 and 1/2 cup brown rice
1/2 cup green lentils
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp chipotle powder (optional but amazing)
1 tbsp cumin seeds, whole
3 gloves garlic, diced (Or more. I use dried garlic here for convenience)
A pinch of dried cilantro
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 can diced tomatoes, no salt
4 cups stock (see above)

Toss all the above in a rice cooker. If using stove stop, bring to boil then simmer for about 40 minutes.

While that is going, prepare the following:

Puree 1 small container of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in a food processor, and set aside.

1 tsp cumin seeds, whole
(if using fresh garlic, consider using it here instead of the rice cooker)
1 large, white onion
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 Anaheim pepper
1 cubanelle pepper
1 poblano pepper
4 jalapenos
3 red jalapenos (if available. They are typically thinner here and add a bit more color)
(really, at this point, if there is a large, attractive pepper in the produce bin, toss it in. Variety makes the pepper medley great)

1 can of black beans, low sodium (rinse in colander and set aside to drain)

Dice the onion and keep separate, then all the peppers.

Over medium - high heat in a large pan with enough light olive oil to coat the bottom, saute onion and cumin seed until fragrant and starting to get clear. Add peppers and cook for 3 minutes, then reduce heat and cover, stirring every so often until all the diced bits are tender, about 10 - 15 minutes depending on how many peppers you added. Add black beans and stir. Cut the heat.

Set oven to 375 to preheat.

When the rice and lentils are done, dump the onions and pepper medley into an oven-safe dish that will be large enough everything. A typical glass casserole dish will do. Mix in the chipotle puree, and 1 8 oz package of shredded "Mexican" blend cheese. Let the rice cool briefly, then dump into the pepper medley, stirring well to incorporate everything. I typically also add hot sauce at this point, Valentina's is my choice. Optional, but recommended, and covers the lack of salt not already in the cheese.

Bake at 375 for 25 - 30 minutes, then do whatever you want with it. This should make enough to feed one person for quite a few meals. It is amazing with sour cream, or fine just as it is.

A bit more complicated this time, but much more balanced and delicious. If you decide to make some, let me know how it turned out. I hope you enjoy some spicy peppers!