Arroz Congri/Vegan Cuban Red Kidney Beans Rice

Arroz Congri/Congris is typically a Cuban black beans rice,though many different variations do exists and one among is this red beans and rice version. Congri is prepared mostly with meat especially pork, but i opted for vegetarian version actually a vegan one. However i followed this recipe, this red beans and rice is from eastern part of Cuba, though many people consider this dish as a signature dish of Oriente province. Traditionally this rice dish is cooked with fat from pork meat and ham is added to the rice to make this dish as a complete meal. However this vegan version tastes simply fabulous and quite nutritious to enjoy as a main course with some grilled vegetables or pan fried potatoes. Since this dish calls for long grain rice, you can also serve this red beans rice a salad.

Cuban Sandwich Bread/Pan Cubano

Cuban bread is a simple white bread, similar to the French bread or else to Italian bread, but it has a slightly different cooking method and its generally goes for simple ingredients with a small amount of vegetable shortening, its can also usually made into long, baguette like loaves or small loaves to make out sandwiches with any filling, this cuban sandwich bread is a staple of Cuban-American cuisine and traditionally used for cuban sandwich...This bread is really very simple to prepare and tastes fantastic, personally i felt that this bread tastes like our Pav bread and we enjoyed having this bread with chicken and veggies as filling for sandwich.

2+1/2cup Bread flour
1tbsp Active dryYeast
1tbsp Sugar
1ts Salt
1cup Luke warm water
1/4cup Melted butter
1no Egg

In a bowl, mix together the yeast, sugar, salt and warm water...cover the mixture and let them sit until the yeast form a foam on the top..mix the butter, egg and flour together and add gradually the foamy yeast, turn everything as a soft and stiff dough..keep the dough in a greased bowl and let them rise in a warm place for 1or 1+1/2 hours..

When the dough doubled their volume, punch down the dough and divide the dough as 5-6portions..knead each loaves for few seconds, place the loaves over the baking sheet tray, using a sharp knife make two-three slashes over the loaves,cover the loaves with a towel for 15minutes...Preheat the oven to 375F, place the loaves on the center rack.. arrange a shallow pan to the bottom of the oven with a cup of boiling water and bake the bread to 375F for 35minutes...The loaves will be golden and little crusty...

Enjoy the bread the day itself...