Balancing Bowls

This is the full walkthrough for cooking dried black beans on the stovetop, from picking over the beans to ladling them into a bowl.

The process is more hands-off than you’d think. Most of the time is just simmering. You pick over the beans, rinse them, add them to a pot with enough water to cover by about two inches, and stir in a teaspoon of salt. Bring it to a boil, turn it down, and let them cook low and slow. About 45 minutes in, add the second teaspoon of salt.

If you want a more flavorful broth, drop in a couple of bay leaves, a whole onion, a teaspoon of cumin, a dried ancho chili, or a whole head of garlic with the top sliced off. None of those are required, but they make the broth good enough to eat on its own.

Cook time depends on whether you soaked and how old the beans are. Soaked, younger beans can be tender in about an hour. Unsoaked or older beans may take closer to two. You’ll know they’re done when they’re soft and creamy all the way through, no chalky center.

One pound makes about six cups cooked, roughly four cans worth. Store them in the fridge in their cooking liquid for four to five days, or freeze them in portions.

https://balancingbowls.com/how-to-cook-dried-black-beans/

Chipotle peppers and adobo sauce. That is what separates these refried black beans from every can I have ever opened.

Chipotle peppers are smoked, dried jalapenos packed in a tangy, slightly sweet sauce. You chop them up, stir them into a skillet of black beans with sauteed onion, garlic, and cumin, and the whole thing transforms. The smokiness comes through first, then a warmth that builds, then that tangy depth from the adobo that makes you stop and pay attention.

I use four peppers for a batch, which gives moderate heat (start with two if you are cautious, you can always add more). Do not skip the adobo sauce itself. That is where a lot of the flavor hides.

The rest is two cans of black beans, a potato masher, and twenty-five minutes. Finish with lime juice. These chipotle refried beans are the ones I reach for when I want refried beans that taste like I put thought into them. For the record, barely any thought was required.

https://balancingbowls.com/refried-black-beans-with-chipotle/