The Most Delicious Mexicali Rice and Bean Pie Recipe Ever

A friend of mine cooked this recipe for us many years ago, and I've been preparing it with a few tweaks of my own ever since. It's always a favorite in our home, with people claiming the leftovers before we even start eating. The original recipe is from the Woman's Weekly Australia Gluten-Free Cooking cookbook, published in 2000. I've had this book for 23 years now. Makes me feel old!!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Mexicali Bean and Rice Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of rice of your choice
• 1 pot of boiling water with 2 to 3 beef stock cubes added (I use the Massel brand, which is gluten-free; you can use chicken or vegetable cubes if you wish)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 to 3 cups of grated cheese (depending on how cheesy you like your pie)
• 450g can of refried beans
• 1 1/2 cups pasta sauce
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 6 green onions, sliced finely, or 1 red onion finely chopped
• Sour cream or your choice (we use lactose-free sour cream)
• Optional: 200g roughly chopped ham of choice, avocado

Method:

1. Place the pot of water on the stove to boil. Once boiling, place the stock cubes in the water until dissolved, then add rice and boil for 10 minutes.
2. Drain rice, transfer to a large bowl, and cool. Once cooled, stir in egg and 1 cup of cheese. Using wet hands, transfer the rice mix to a well-oiled 34cm deep pan pizza tray; bake uncovered in a moderate oven for 40 minutes or until lightly browned. When the rice base is out of the oven, keep it hot.
3. Spread rice base with pasta sauce, then spread with refried beans. Sprinkle over the combined tomato and onion, ham if using, and remaining cheese. Bake the full pie in a hot oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the pie is heated through.
4. Top with sour cream and remaining tomato and onion, and the optional avocado.