I'll give that a try. Some recipes prepare the beans separately from scratch, and then pour the toasted rice into that already-seasoned liquid mixture.

I'll pick up some basmati today, during Day Three of the local Panamanian chili pepper search.

Good luck on your pepper search! Also you probably want to have a 1.75:1 water:rice ratio in the pot when you add it in and it’s important to cover the top for the rice to fluff up. You don’t want a tight seal just a plate loosely covering the top so some steam can escape. Finally for some real flavor in these dishes you might want to use bouillon instead of the broth and add a good amount of it or it’s going to be bland. You can also skip the salt once you do that.

Usually rice and bean type dishes always go with something on the side so you should probably have another protein/meat dish on the side to properly appreciate the dish. Maybe ladle some of the juices that come off the protein over the rice when you eat it.