I love Mexican food, which my husband introduced me to. Refried beans (frijoles refritos in the original Spanish) are so versatile, they’re cooked beans that are fried with onion and chillies and partially mashed to a paste which is great for spreading on tacos. The dish evolved as a way of using up leftover beans the following days. Traditionally they’re made with pinto beans, but I prefer black beans for mine. You start with cooked beans and some of the cooking liquid (but you can also use tinned if you prefer). What follows is a traditional Mexican recipe for the beans. Combined with a little cheese and flour tortillas, you can have a speedy light lunch ready in 20 minutes or so. I typically use a habanero chilli for mine.
Prep time: 5 minutes/Cook time: 15 minutes/Serves 4
Ingredients:
500ml (2 cups) home-made black beans (include some cooking liquid or boiling broth too)
3 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil of choice
75g (⅓ cup) of white onion, finely chopped
2 to 3 whole dried arbol chillies (or dried/fresh chilli of choice)
2 garlic cloves, minced
generous pinch of sea salt
Method:
Heat the oil in a large frying pan, and once hot add the onion and cook until browned and crispy (this gives it a great taste, or you can just sauté until tender). Next, add the dried or fresh chillies and garlic and cook just until the chillies brown or begin to blister — this happens quickly so be ready to immediately continue with the next step.
Immediately add the boiled beans — be careful because it will splutter, allow to fry for about 3 minutes. Then add about 60ml (¼ cup/4 tbsp) of their cooking liquid and then begin mashing the beans with a potato masher until you achieve the desired texture (I like some texture with whole bean pieces, but others mash until smooth). The bean stock will help with the mashing and you may need to add a little bit more of the stock to help you achieve your desired final texture.
Continue to ‘fry’ the mixture for about 5-8 minutes or until you obtain your desired consistency. Remember to adjust the consistency to your needs by cooking longer to thicken or adding more stock/water to thin out.
Taste and add salt as desired. If preparing for another dish (such as the double bean chili published previously) you can make this a couple of days ahead and store in the refrigerator.
