Rice and Black Bean Pilaf

The other night I made Crystal's yummy Baked Chicken Taquitos which we loved. On the side I served this beans and rice dish and we thought it was really good. So I hope you like it too.
I adapted this recipe from Ellie Krieger of the Food Network.



Ingredients
1 cup rice (my favorite rice is uncle ben's. If you haven't tried it you should.)
2 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced (1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fresh chopped oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
1 stalk celery, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes
1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small tomato, finely diced
3 Tbsp. roughly chopped cilantro

Directions
Place rice and chicken broth in a saucepot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook rice, covered, until tender and all the liquid is absorbed, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from heat, uncover, and fluff with a fork. (I ignored these instructions and cooked the rice in my rice cooker how I normally cook rice...with a little salt, butter, 2c. water and 2 chicken boullion cubes.)

Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, celery, carrot, cumin and chili flakes and cook, stirring occasionally, until carrots are tender but not mushy, about 6 minutes. Stir in black beans and tomato and cook until just warmed through, about 1-2 minutes.

Combine onion-black bean mixture and hot rice in a serving bowl and toss to combine. Garnish with cilantro.