You should all know my obsession with beans by now so I’ll not to bore you yet again. Soak from dry, five times cheaper, etc. etc. Here’s how I make a batch of particularly creamy pinto beans suitable for parking next to Mexican red rice. If you’ve ever been to a family-style Mexican restaurant, you’ll know both are on every ‘plate special’ in the house. Top them with a cheese or two as desired (Manchego and Cotija pictured above). A bowl full left on a counter will naturally attract all manner of things suitable for dipping. Tortilla chips, pitas, carrot sticks, fingers…
Creamy Pinto Beans
Yield: roughly 750ml of finished beans for about 75 cents.
250g dry pinto beans
2 tablespoons salt
10g freshly ground Essential Mexican Spice Blend (found in this post)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cloves fresh garlic
2 – 4 tablespoons corn oil
1 – 2 fresh chiles, any variety to preference (optional)
small bunch of coriander stems, finely minced (optional)
Cover the beans in at least triple their volume of cold water and allow to soak 8 – 24 hours.
Drain the beans completely and cover with double their volume of fresh cold water. Add the salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until very tender, at least 30 minutes and usually less than 45 minutes. If your beans are too old the centres will never soften even after an hour of cooking. This is a good excuse to buy new beans and try again.
Drain the salty cooking water completely into bowl or similar to reserve. Add the cooked beans with all remaining ingredients to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a standard cutting blade. Process the beans in pulses initially then on continuous power adding small measures of the reserved liquid to achieve a creamy texture. Remember that liquid is very salty so use sparingly. If necessary add small measures of boiling fresh water to achieve your desired consistency. Taste often and adjust the amount of all ingredients by small measures to suit your own preferences.
Serve warm, cold, reheated, refried, topped with cheese, sprinkled with coriander leaf and scallions, out of the fridge at midnight by the spoonful, or any other way you can work them into your day.
– msh v.1.7
