Vegan Feijoada with a Secret Ingredient

Before we start, here's another secret: I prefer the stuff with sausages cozying up to the beans. But I'm cooking for vegans. This, my friends, is what you need:

But I'm getting ahead of myself. This ingredient goes in last. In the order in which you need them, here are the main ingredients:

Black beans

Water

Bay leaves--two or three. Dry is fine.

Chopped red onions and garlic to taste--lots. 

Olive oil in which to sauté the onions and garlic 

Cumin--preferably seeds. Again, lots. A tablespoon, at least.

Salt or a vegan veggie broth including salt

Rice--best made in a rice cooker. I recommend a mix of broken jasmine and sticky rice.

Smoked paprika

Cayenne pepper

Washed, drained fresh spinach

Manioc (Yucca) flour

Cubed sweet potatoes

Sliced oranges 

Chopped fresh cilantro and scallions

Last--but not least--the item pictured above: Laoganma black beans in chili oil. There are a number of Laoganma products--the word means "Old Godmother" in Mandarin Chinese.

Soak your beans, preferably overnight. They should be covered with water--two inches more water than beans, and might as well put a sheet of aluminum foil over them.

In the morning, or three hours before you want to eat, drain the beans, rinse them, and add almost twice as much water. Put in your bay leaves and allow the mix to boil, stirring fairly often. Turn down the heat shortly after the beans boil and cover.  Meanwhile put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and add your chopped onions. When they start to get transparent, put in the garlic and then the cumin. Stir and sautée; then add the mix to the beans. Cover the beans and let them simmer on low to medium heat. Put your cubed sweet potatoes in a baking dish and add salt, pepper, a little olive oil--make sure the olive oil is evenly distributed. Put in oven at about 200 for about an hour. Get your manioc flour into a frying pan with olive oil and a little garlic salt. Sauté and stir.

Keep checking your beans and stirring; when they get a little softer, leave the lid off so that some of the water can boil off. Add your salt, paprika, cayenne pepper. Stir and let simmer. Then add a large dollop of Laoganma black beans in chili oil and stir. Allow the mixture to simmer while you get your spinach into the wok--I'm assuming you've washed and drained it. Add sliced garlic to the olive oil in the wok. Stir. Somewhere in here you've made your rice. Garnish all with chopped cilantro and scallions.

Result are great with a glass of red wine: