Josh Shear

I love simple foods. These are frequently foods that originate in cultures that are old, poor, or both. These are also civilizations that have found ways to fill their dietary needs with these foods so that they don't, you know, die.

This recipe is scalable, either up or down (this is quite a bit of food. I decided to make it on a Friday night with the expectation it would last me at least the weekend). It's the lazy version of this (I didn't make the tortillas or the salsa).

Tacos

Ingredients

• 2 cups rice
• 2 cans black beans, rinsed
• 2 cups salsa
• 1 tbsp hot sauce (optional)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or jack)
• corn tortillas

Put the rice on to cook. I use a rice cooker, so I use a 1:1 rice:water ratio to make it a little bit dry. If you're making the rice in a saucepan, you probably want to go 1:2 rice:water.

In a saucepan, combine black beans, salsa and hot sauce. Bring to a boil then simmer, stirring occasionally.

Warm the tortiallas – you can do this either in a frying pan (a half minute or so on each side over medium heat) or the microwave (about 15 seconds for two).

Onto a tortilla, spoon rice, then salsa and bean mixture, then sprinkle some cheese. I put two in the microwave for an additional 20 seconds to melt the cheese, but that's up to you.

Eat.