Refried Black Beans

If you go to Mexico and ask for a particular traditional Mexican dish in a restaurant, the waiters there, will probably be all full of beans! Now you might wonder what kind of dish would that be? Senoras and Senores, I am happy to tell you that the name of that dish is refried black beans! It is a typical traditional Mexican dish and is one of the inevitable part of the Texan and Mexican cuisine. Made basically from pinto beans, refried beans is not a variety of beans, but it is a recipe made from cooked and mashed beans. I am not going to reveal anything more about this dish here. Therefore, you would have to read on to get the beans!

Refried Black Beans Recipe

Pinto beans are believed to be reasonably nutritious so frequently refried beans are made using the pinto beans. The calorie count of refried beans is not outrageous! Further, this recipe is quite similar to the recipe of refried pinto beans. Nevertheless, we will enlist first what would you need for the basic beans recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 pound (2 heaped cups) dried black beans or pintos, washed and picked over
• 2 quarts water, in all
• 1 chopped onion
• 4 large garlic cloves, or more to taste, minced or put through a press
• 2 to 3 teaspoons salt, more if necessary
• 2 large sprigs epazote, or 2 heaped tablespoons cilantro leaves
• 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons canola oil, as needed
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons pure ground chili powder (mild or medium-hot)

After these ingredients we will move on to the recipe.

Method
Make sure you don't forget to soak the beans overnight or for a minimum of 6 hours.

Step 1
First you will have to mix beans (without draining the water) with onion and garlic cloves in a heavy bottomed casserole or in a bean pot. Bring the mixture to boil and remember that the beans have to be covered by an inch of water.

Step 2
In some time after you have kept the beans to boil, decrease the heat, cover the utensil and simmer it for an hour. Mix the remaining spices - garlic, cilantro and then add salt too. Cover and simmer for an hour more till the beans are soft and a thick and soupy gravy has formed out of water which was not drained. Check for the salt and remove it from the heat.

Step 3
Now we come to the main part of the recipe. Here at this stage you will have to drain around a cup of liquid from the beans. However, do not throw away that water yet. You will now mash half of the beans coarsely either with a bean or potato masher or a food processor. Stir this mashed mixture back in the pot.

Step 4
Now the next thing to do for making refried beans is to take a non stick frying pan which is heavy bottomed and heat oil or lard in it. Then heat on a medium flame and add cumin and ground chili. Stir over medium heat and cook. Cook till the spices sizzle and are cooked and smell nice. Then turn the heat to medium high and add the beans (in batches if you want). Use a tablespoon for each batch.

Step 5
The refried black beans now come to the fore. Keep on frying the beans with frequent stirring and mashing. Go on stirring till the beans thicken and start to get crusty at the bottom and have a good aroma. Mix the crust into the beans every time it forms and cook like this for around 25 minutes.

That's it! Finally, stop cooking at a point where they are thick but not dry. In case they do seem to be dry, use the water you had drained earlier from the beans to moisten the beans and have a nice gravy for your refried black beans. Again taste the beans and add salt if required.

This is one of the staple of the Tex-Mex cuisine as a result of the calories and the nutrition value. The calories in ½ cup serving of refried black beans are between 110-1140. Talking about the nutritional value of refried black beans, it is very low on fat per serving with good amounts of calcium, potassium, some amount of fiber and other essential nutrients. It is surely a recipe worth trying! Bon appetit!