Spiced Up Black Beans

October 28, 2008

I made these beans a couple weeks ago for my burritos and was surprised how good they were on their own. They would make a pretty good meal with some rice. Because I was making them for burritos, I halved the recipe.  This was also my first time cooking dried black beans.

I had a half pound of black beans, a bay leaf, two cloves of garlic, one tablespoon of cumin, a couple sprigs of fresh thyme (a 1/4 tsp. dried thyme also works), salt and pepper, and half an onion.

The mise en place consists of picking out the cracked or damaged black beans, rinsing them, crushing one clove of garlic and mincing the other, and mincing the half onion. I hadn’t yet learned the truth about cooking beans, but Mark Bittman didn’t instruct me to soak the beans, so I proceeded without doing so (which is fine – the recipe timing will be off if you soak them).

I put my rinsed beans in a medium saucepan and added water until they were covered by 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. The goal is to have your beans cooked without excess water that needs to be drained, so water to cover the beans is enough for now. I ended up needing to add more a couple times while cooking, but its much better to add more than have to drain it at the end, where you’ll lose flavor. I turned the burner to high and let the water come to a boil.

Once boiling, I added the crushed clove of garlic, the bay leaf, the thyme sprigs, and the cumin. I stirred these in, turned the heat down to around medium-low and covered the saucepan loosely. You want a simmer for the rest of the cooking time, so use whatever heat setting gets you that. Your total cooking time will probably be between 1 1/2 to 2 hours, so continue stirring occasionally and adding water if it gets too low. Remember, you need enough water to cook the beans and not let them dry out, but not so much that you have to drain the beans at the end.

My beans started to soften after around an hour of simmering, so I added salt and pepper, then let them continue to simmer. After another 40 minutes the beans seemed soft enough, so I added the minced garlic and onion, then tasted. The seasoning was actually pretty good, but feel free to add more salt, pepper, or cumin here. Just cook it for another 5-10 minutes and you’re done.

Anyway, that’s about it. I just removed the bay leaves and served it on my burritos. It was quite delicious.

Tips

• You can replace the cumin with chili powder for a different flavor.
• This black bean recipe tasted much better than I expected and was good enough to eat plain with rice.
• If you are using pre-soaked beans, you’ll need to shorten the cooking time.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. dried black beans, washed
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves garlic (1 crushed, one minced)
• 1 Tbsp. ground cumin (or chili powder)
• 1-2 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/4 tsp. dried)
• 1/2 an onion, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:

1. Put your beans in a medium sauce pan and cover with water. Turn the burner to high and let the water come to a boil.
2. When the water is boiling, stir in the crushed clove of garlic, the bay leaf, the thyme, and the cumin (or chili powder). Turn the heat down so the beans simmer (around medium-low). Cover the saucepan loosely.
3. The beans will need to simmer for a total of 1 1/2 to 2 hours, most likely. When they begin to soften (usually after the first 45 minutes to an hour), add salt and pepper to taste. Continue simmering, covered loosely, and stirring. Add more water if it gets to low. You want enough water to keep the beans cooking but not too much that it will have to be drained out at the end.
4. When the beans are very soft, add your remaining garlic and onion, adjust any seasonings, and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Serve over rice.

Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything.

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