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Friday, July 18, 2008

The Five Pound Bag of Pinto Beans, Part 1



As part of the continual quest to economize, I resolved to grocery shop minimally while Zach was in Alabama - purchasing only fresh fruits and vegetables, and using our blessedly full pantry as my source for all other, non-perishable items. In other words, I've set about on a journey to summer-clean my pantry. Amidst the depths of the shelves, I discovered a 5 pound bag of pinto beans - that we had brought with us when we moved to our current house an entire year ago. We eat beans and legumes quite frequently (excellent, inexpensive source of protein and fiber, etc), but, while I love the approach of cooking dried beans only, the reality of school and work and not enough hours in the day have lead me to canned beans, which, while a wee bit more expensive than the dried version, are still so economical (it's hard to fuss over something that costs $0.50 for 30 oz.) that I warrant the time saved worth the compromise. Hence, throughout my many days of bean cooking during our year here, the large sac of pinto beans worked its way gradually to the margins of our pantry...

Until a few nights ago, when, I concluded that the pinto beans finally deserved their due. In my enthusiasm, however, I decided to cook The Whole Bag. I soaked them overnight, employing my largest bowl, and, when I went to boil them the next day... The Beans Had Expanded. Why this fact of bean cooking escaped me, I have no idea, because I've spent most of my culinary life cooking dried beans, but somehow I had gotten so carried away that my refrigerator suddenly contained a passel of beans far too large for even my largest stockpot. Half the beans stayed in the fridge, uncooked, and the other half has been comprising the main ingredient of my meals ever since. Yes, all of my meals, because I had overlooked one other important factor - I'm only one, rather small person who doesn't eat very large quantities... and I would probably have to eat 6 full meals a day to even attempt to finish all those beans before Zach comes home.

So, pinto beans and I both will await Zach's return. In the meantime, I've been trying to discover just how many ways one can prepare pinto beans...



(Un)Refried Beans

(On a side note, I've always been baffled by the title of "Refried Beans." No, my comprehension of the word parts "re" and "fried" has not escaped me, I've just never understood why the inherently creamy, smooth, soothing nature of refried beans requires the copious amounts of fat and oil most recipes call for... We fix our refried beans with just a wee bit of olive oil for sauteing the onions, and find the results every bit as luscious and satisfying as one could wish! Here's to happy unrefrying!)

2 cups dried pinto beans, soaked in water overnight, then boiled until soft, and drained
1 T olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 1/2 T chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp oregano
1 to 2 cups water
3 heaping T vegetable bouillon powder, or 4 vegetable bouillon cubes

~ In a large soup pot, saute the onions in the olive oil over medium-high heat until the onions are soft.
~ Stir in the chili powder, cumin, salt, and cayenne powder, and continue sauteing for 1 minute or so - just until the spices are fragrant.
~ Add the beans, oregano, and 1 to 2 cups water (depending on how thick or thin you like your beans). Stir in the bouillon.
~ Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally and adding more water if needed to keep the beans from sticking to the bottom of the pan, until the beans are very soft - approx. 1 hour. (After an hour or so they will be ready, but they can also simmer quietly and patiently on the stove for at least 3 hours if needed.)
~ Using a potato masher (yep, a potato masher!), smush the beans until most of them are mashed, and the texture is mostly (but not all the way) smooth.



~ Serve warm, either by themselves, or...

- with cheddar cheese or soy cheese, sour cream or soy cream cheese, and salsa



- on top of a salad (as I did for lunch yesterday)



- with taco-spiced ground turkey, beef, or soy crumbles, cheddar cheese or soy cheese, and sauteed peppers and onions (as I did for supper yesterday!)


14 comments:

  1. Your post gave me a good chuckle -- I can't even imagine what I would do with 5lbs of soaked beans! Holy-moly :-)

    Fortunately, it seems like bean dishes freeze well. I occasionally make large batches of chilli, soups, or stews and freeze them future lunches or dinner.

    Refried beans sound really good and I haven't made them from scratch before, but you've made it look easy to do. I have a bag of cranberry beans (only 1 lb) in my pantry that I need to do something with soon :-)

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  2. Mmm refried beans are one of my favorite foods EVER. In fact, I ate some today :o).

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  3. I adore refried beans! My hips are undecided, but the rest of me says YES! :-)

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  4. VeggieGirl, thank you! I'm going to have to keep the bean dishes coming! :-)

    Allen, thank you SO much for the bean freezing advice! I had been contemplating freezing some of the bean bounty, but had hesitated because of minimal success freezing rice (have you been able to freeze rice?) and pasta, but thanks to you now I will definitely definitely freeze a bunch of those beans! :-) I'm so glad the story gave you a laugh, too... :-)

    ChocolateCoveredVegan, I guess great minds think alike about refried beans! ;-) They're one of my favorite "soothing" foods of all time...

    Ann, hooray for refried beans! :-)

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  5. Apart from enriching me with the knowledge of a very delicios recipe for dried beans, your post also did me a good service by reminding me I've got to make an inventory of my pantry too. Soon. :)

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  6. I made your refied beans and just posted it -- they are SO GOOD! Thank you for sharing this recipe and inspiring me to make them. I only used 1lb of beans though :-)

    My bag noted that after soaking the beans that you could freeze them for future use, so hopefully you can store some of them this way. Best of luck!

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  7. Anya, have fun with the pantry inventory! :-) (and maybe you'll blog about it? Please? I love hearing about other people's pantries! :-)

    Allen, I'm so delighted that you enjoyed the recipe!! I'm also deeply honored and thrilled by your blog post - thank you so much for trying and writing about the beans! Your post absolutely made my week! :-) Also, a huge thank you for the bean freezing info... thanks to you, I put a very very large bag of the beans in the freezer!

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  8. Oh, that's hilarious. Apparently, not buying groceries while one's partner is out of town is the status quo. I've only bought produce, olives and cheese since mine left. I've found an assortment of pantry good that have been long, long neglected.

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  9. Those refried beans dishes look tasty!

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  10. Allie, I'm so glad I'm not the only one cleaning out my pantry while my guy is away! :-) I completely agree with your purchase priorities, too - produce, olives, and cheese are all must-have-on-hand staples!

    Kevin, thank you so very much!

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  11. When I mentioned to my fiance (who was raised in Mexico and Brazil) that I was planning on doing pintos myself, he gave me this tip from his mother:

    to remove the chemical that makes most people gassy after eating beans, cook the beans with whole baby carrots (or fairly large chopped pieces of regular carrot) and some onion quarters. Remove the carrots and onion quarters before mashing. The carrots and onion absorb the gassy chemical and voila! No-gas beans.

    I modified your recipe by cutting the onions into very large so I can remove them later...so I will essentially have no onions in the finished product unless I want to saute some when I am done mashing and add them in(which I am not inclined to do, anyway.) I am trying it his way tonight, we shall see how they turn out.

    I love all of your recipes--this is the second one I have tried in the last two weeks.

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  12. Awesome!

    I hate buying canned refried beans! They are triple the price of a bigger can of kidney beans!

    Thank you!

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  13. I'm not a bins guy but this look yummy, well i should give it a shot.

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