The North American Indians made patties of black beans and cornmeal, cooking them over campfires. Brown rice has been added to give them more substance, though the Native Americans on the plains would have used wild rice. For a main dish, you can make or buy a mushroom gravy to serve over the patties, serving with a green vegetable and salad. Uncooked patties can be wrapped in wax paper and frozen, then for a quick meal you can defrost and fry or grill. This is a nice way to use up leftover rice or beans, but you can also cook some for the occasion. For breakfast, you can serve with warm maple syrup. Cool the beans and rice, if you have just cooked them. Combine all the ingredients well. Add more cornmeal as needed to form a stiff dough. Form into patties. Add corn oil to a frying pan and fry, or grill over charcoal. Cooking black beans: put 1 cup dry black beans in 3 cups water and store overnight (a quart canning jar works well for this.) Bring to a boil in fresh water and simmer around 40 minutes. Cooking brown rice: place 1 cup brown rice in 2 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until water has disappeared, about 35 minutes. Let the rice rest with cover on an additional 10 minutes. From: Mary Howard.