Betsy’s Black Beans
There are many varieties of beans. The following recipe may be used for most. You can make the same dish with dry beans but it is just as tasty using canned beans. If you use canned beans add the tomato paste towards the end of cooking so it doesn’t stick to the pot.
Through the years for different reasons I have had to cook the beans for friends that are vegans or don’t eat pork for religious reasons. Omit the bacon, and use vegetable stock.
If you make canned beans for tacos, you don’t need the stock. You want the bans to be less runny than you would to eat with rice and canned beans already have liquid so you don’t need to add any.
Serve With:
- ½ lb. dry beans or 2 cans black beans (make sure they were cooked only with salt and water)
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- ½ Bell pepper or 1 Cubanelle pepper, chopped
- 1 tsp Fresh Cilantro chopped
- 1 tbsp recaíto
- 1 strip of bacon chopped. I no longer use chorizo since it contains some really bad stuff.
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp tomato paste (or more to taste)
- 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
- Hot sauce to taste (optional)
Tips
Dry beans take a bit longer to cook. There is no way to cook them fast without a pressure cooker. I am scared to death of them, so I don’t have one. If the beans are good, they will soften in 3-4 hours. If they are not, they could take a lot longer than that. I have had beans that didn’t soften after 6 hours, so I put them in the blender and turned them into bean dip.
Canned beans are a lot faster, but they will never taste the same as fresh. They come in handy in a hurry though. You can still make them taste good with this recipe.
Serve with rice or tacos.
Step 1
Three to four hours before cooking, cover dry beans with hot water and set aside for about an hour. (You can do this the night before and let sit overnight).
Step 2
Return to stove, ad salt and pepper, and boil for about two more hours or until beans are tender.
Step 3
In a heavy skillet saute onion, bell pepper, garlic, cilantro and bacon or chorizo in coconut or olive oil. When onions are transparent, add, recaíto and stock. Add mixture to beans and cook until thick. Add tomato paste. Simmer for about 20 more minutes.
Step 4
When ready you can serve as a soup with very finely chopped onions on top, or over rice, or mashed as re-fried beans in tacos, or blended as a dip for tortilla chips.
For thicker beans, reduce the amount of stock.
