Refried beans is a Mexican staple food. Mexico is North America’s neighboring country so, all the Mexican food is quite popular in the USA and other Latin American countries.

Refried beans are nothing but the cooked bean again sauteed in the oil with onion and few other spices. Traditionally refried beans is made with mayo Coba, pinto, and black beans. But we can use any beans like black-eyed beans, garbanzo beans, brown pigeon beans, and so on. In North America, refried beans made with black beans is more common. However, I like to cook refried beans with pinto beans.

I Prefer to cook refried beans from scratch instead of using the pre-cooked canned beans. Because beans soaked overnight and then cooked are easy to digest. Also, dry beans are affordable compared to pre-cooked canned beans.

I encourage you all to use dry beans. Once you realize the taste difference between soaked beans and store-bought pre-cooked beans, I bet you will never cook refried beans with canned beans.

Ingredients:

• 300 grams of dry pinto beans
• 30 grams of white onion
• 4 to 5 round slices of jalapenos(add less or more) . I use one whole Jalepeno with seeds.
• 1 small garlic clove
• 2 to 3 tsp corn oil (or) lard (use any oil of your choice)
• 1 tsp of salt (adjust to taste)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 cups of water (adjust the water)
• few cilantro/coriander leaves
• Black pepper powder to taste (optional)
• 1/4 tsp coriander seed (optional)

Procedure:

Step 1: 

1. Wash the dry pinto beans couple of times under running cold water. Put the washed beans in a large bowl and pour the water into the beans until beans submerge. Let the beans soak overnight, about 8 to 12 hours.

Step 2:

1. The next day, drain the beans and discard the soaked water. Wash the beans a couple of times under running cold water and add the beans in a large saucepot, 4 to 5-quart capacity. Fill the saucepot with fresh water until the beans are submerged. Water Level should be atleast two inches above the beans.
2. Put the lid on and let the beans cook in medium heat until beans are soft and skin starts to break. If the water dries out, you may have to add extra water to cook the beans.
3. Keep the cooked beans aside.

Note:

You can also cook the beans in an Instant pot or Pressure cooker. Instant pot and pressure cooker consume less time and energy compared to stovetop process.

Step 3:

1. Dry roast the cumin seeds and coriander seeds(if using) separately until just warm. Be careful spices burn very fast.
2. Let the spices cool and then, crush the spices in a mortar and pestle or blender to a fine powder.

Step 4:

1. In a blender, grind the onion, jalapeno, and garlic to smooth or coarse paste.
2. In a frying pan, heat the oil and saute the ground paste until the raw smell goes away, about 3 minutes or so.
3. Drain the water from cooked beans and add beans to the frying pan. Saute the beans for few seconds, then using a potato masher or electric masher, mash the beans. Add the required water to loosen the beans. Season the refried beans with the required salt and mix well. Allow the beans to cook on medium heat until the desired consistency. Keep stirring once in a while because the mashed beans will stick to the bottom of the pan very quickly. Refried beans thickens as it cools.
4. When the refried beans become thick, add the cumin powder and mix well. Let the refried beans cook for two more minutes.
5. Finely garnish the refried beans with cilantro and serve with Mexican rice/tortillas/burritos/chips.

Check out the delicious Mexican recipes :

1. Avocado Tortilla
2. Guacamole
3. Tomato Tortilla
4. Mexican style rice

Summary

Recipe Name

Mexican Refried Beans recipe

Author

Swaana

Date

2019-03-30

Prep Time

10

Cook Time

60M

Total Time

70M