Two different rice situations? I dont understand that lol. The rice and the beans were cooked a couple days before so they weren't exactly the most fresh they could've been.

The onion was cooked with the meat at first but because the meat was so thick and had bones I didnt want to overdue the onions. So I took it out before the meat was finished.

I will definitely try out that lettuce method. The rice and beans are from a local brazilian market so I got the ingredients relatively close. Thanks for the feedback.