Pot-braised beef with vegetables

Method

1. Season the beef chuck joint with 2 teaspoons of salt and black pepper. Finely chop 1 onion and the garlic; deseed the tomatoes and chop them small. Peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters; peel the carrots and cut them into thick diagonal slices.
2. Heat the open pressure cooker over high heat with 2 tablespoons of oil and brown the beef on all sides, about 8 minutes in total. Lift onto a plate.
3. Lower to medium heat, add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook for 3 minutes, scraping the bottom; add the garlic and stir for 1 minute. Add the tomato and bay leaf and cook for 3 minutes until the tomato breaks down.
4. Return the beef, cover with 1.2 litres of water, close the cooker and cook over medium heat for 50 minutes once it starts hissing. Turn off the heat and let all the pressure out before opening.
5. Add the potatoes and carrots around the beef, close again and cook 6 more minutes once hissing; let the pressure out. The vegetables should be tender but whole.
6. Lift the beef onto a board and the vegetables onto a dish, covered with foil. Boil the cooking liquid uncovered over high heat for 10 to 15 minutes until reduced by half and lightly thickened; adjust the salt.
7. Make seasoned beans from cooked beans (2 tins, or from the week's batch): in a small pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and fry 2 chopped garlic cloves for 1 minute; add the black beans with their tin liquid, 1 bay leaf and 200 ml of water. Mash a ladleful of beans against the bottom to thicken the broth and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring now and then; taste before salting, as tinned beans are already seasoned. If starting from dried beans (250 g), soak them 8 to 12 hours and pressure-cook for 25 to 30 minutes once the cooker starts hissing.
8. Make fluffy white rice: boil 750 ml of water in a kettle. In a medium pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over low heat and soften ½ onion, finely chopped, with a pinch of salt for 2 minutes; add 300 g of long-grain rice and stir for 1 minute until every grain is coated. Pour in the boiling water, add 1 teaspoon of salt, stir once and cook uncovered over medium heat until the water drops to the level of the rice (about 7 minutes). Lower the heat, half-cover and cook 8 minutes more until dry; turn off the heat, keep covered for 5 minutes and fluff with a fork.
9. Slice the beef 1 cm thick against the grain, arrange it with the vegetables, pour over the hot sauce and serve with the rice and beans.