Cuban-Style Arroz Congrí Recipe (2024)

You don't need an hour to cook the rice if you use Marj's method, similar to the method I've always used, the Peruvian way I learned from my mother. I just use less water - 1-1/4 cup water to each cup of rice. The key is letting the water boil until the steam holes appear, covering the pot tightly & letting it steam over super-low heat for 30 minutes vs 17 for Marj (don't know the difference) "DON'T LIFT THE COVER!" I can still hear my mother's voice!

I know opinions vary but I'd sorely miss the cumin if I left it out. Still, I say good for Yolanda!

Love this recipe, een without the cumin! I did cheat a little, however, by using canned organic black beans, which worked fine. Drained the canned beans and used the sauce they were in in the can in the water,/wine/vinegar mixture that the rice cooked in. Added the canned beans to the dish once the rice was cooked so that they were warmed up in the rice itself.

Here's the whole recipe so that's it's clear:
in a 2 qt saucepan with a tight-fitting lid:
saute 1-3 (or more) cloves of garlic (depending on size of cloves, personal taste, & amt of rice) finely minced and crushed
butter or oil enough to cover garliic
salt to taste
when garlic is translucent but not browned, add 1 1/4 cup of water for each cup of rice and bring to a boil
when water boils, add rice, stir once
half cover pot until steam holes appear
proceed as below

This is a big time FAIL.
Arroz Congrí is NOT the same as Moros y Cristianos. Arroz Congrí is made with red kidney beans (frijoles colorados) and Moros y Cristianos is made with black beans.
While they are cooked the same way and with most of the same ingredients, there are some basic differences and give each dish a unique flavor.
Aside from the different beans, Arroz Congrí is cooked with bacon or salted pork, whereas Moros y Cristianos is cooked with fried fresh pork.

I'm a big fan of the Moros y Christianos recipe in The NY Times on August 23, 1973. Sofrito had onions, garlic, red or yellow peppers, olive oil, oregano, tomato paste, salt & Pepper, and cayenne to taste.

Regular rice cooks for 20 minutes, not one hour. You should use regular uncooked rice for this recipe and cook as directed, which is about 20 minutes.

Wow! This was really fantastic! Plenty of flavor! I had about 3 ounces of chorizo in the fridge so I chopped it up included it in the sofrito along with a teaspoon of cumin. A truly delicious concoction and one that I will definitely make again.

You can knock yourself out for a couple of hours or find quite acceptable if not superior results in almost no time using a pressure cooker for both beans (pre-soaked) and rice and all. Jill Nussinow aka the Veggie Queen's "The New Fast Food" has a recipe I use often - all done in about 20 minutes.

When I lived in Puerto Rico, we made rice and beans using medium grain rice, as well as Sazon and Recaito from Goya. The trick was to cook it long and low enough to get arroz pegado ("stuck rice") on the bottom. Like Spaniards do with a good paella. Tan sabroso! A good avocado was the best accompaniment

Congri and Moros con Cristianos are made different. Moros con is black and white rice, Congri is Red beans and white rice

One does not expect Cuban food to be highly seasoned. But this dish is, simply stated, bland, even with doubling-up on the wine and vinegar. Suggestions for improvement are welcome.

Native Cuban here - I agree with Luis. Congri is made with small red beans, not black beans. Also, the way we made ours was with ham bones and some lardons, one cup red wine, no dill, a Habanero or 2 jalapeno pepper, 3 TBSP vinegar, and a small amount of sugar to balance the acidity of the wine and the vinegar, in addition to the spices mentioned here. Very tasty. "Old school" people like me do not use sazon packets, those are just for convenience - we actually mix the spices themselves.

This plates well with a giant pile of garlicky greens and cubes/slices of fruit—melons or oranges go great.

add cumin, and also just use a can of black beans instead of bothering with cooking the dried ones

I used brown rice and it definitely took longer, but ultimately worked. Very tasty!

Not great. turned out kind of mushy and flavorless. I added canned beans early before the rice, so maybe that was why.

1 cup dry black beans = 3 cups cooked beansThis recipe should work with 2 cans of black beans

It's so fun to see how different everyone's congri is. Abuelas everywhere are holding their breath (from their graves even); but I am excited to try adding dried dill to mine next time.

I've been taught in Tampa, to add raw onions and vinegar on top. Each person decides, how much.

Made with chorizo and cumin. Solid, but could use more flavor. Probably double the vinegar, vermouth, and spices next time.

White rice is not complicated but my mother always use a ratio of 2 to 1; 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice ( long grain rice) and just add salt to taste and a little bit of olive oil. To make congris fast just take a can of Goya’s precook black beans and add it to the rice just make sure not to put the liquid of the beans in; if you do want to add the liquid you have to maintain the ration of 2 to 1. Do not forget to add a bay leave to the beans.

Not worth the time. Very bland end result. Nothing special in my opinion.

Sofrito is generally made with onions, garlic, green or red pepper, and tomatoes, either fresh diced tomatoes, canned tomato pure, or tomato paste. Omitting the tomatoes results in a different dish... and yes, Congrí and Moros y Cristianos are different dishes; the first is made with red beans, and the second, with black beans.

Add cumin

Amazing dish and quite simple to make. Avocado and Arepa were the perfect side.Made it with red beans, added a little more salt than it calls for, and definitely added the cumin. Lots of left overs!

This was AMAZING. I ended up using canned Jalapeno Black Beans since everyone has cleaned out all almost all the other beans and rice from store shelves, and substituted a Poblano pepper and Orange Paprika I had in the fridge that were getting soft, as well as added some chopped bacon when I did the onions/garlic. The jalapeno in the beans and the poblano pepper added just the right amount of kick, it was really nice, and a beautiful dish too, for "rice and beans".