Sofrito Black Beans Guatemalan Style Recipes

SOFRITO BLACK BEANS

Steps:

• Clean the beans. Pour black beans into a strainer, and rinse. Run your fingers through the beans a few times and pick out any rocks or dirt.
• Soak the beans. Pour beans into a large pot and cover by a couple inches with water. Ideally, let sit overnight. If you're running short on time you can skip the soaking step and put the beans directly on the stove, add the bay leaves and bring to a boil.
• Cook the beans. If you've soaked them overnight, drain the beans the next day, return to the pot, and cover by a few inches with fresh water. Place over medium-high heat, add bay leaves, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and let cook until beans are tender, about 1 hour.
• Make sofrito. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onions, jalapeños, and garlic and season generously with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are starting to brown and become soft, about 8-10 minutes. Add chili powder, cumin, and coriander and stir to toast the spices for a couple of minutes.
• Combine sofrito and beans. Once beans are tender, add onion mixture to beans and stir to combine. If you'd like the bean broth to be thicker, let the beans cook uncovered until they are the desired thickness. Taste and season with salt. Serve!

BASIC SOFRITO BLACK BEANS RECIPE - (5/5)

Steps:

• *Time Required:* Most time is just waiting (soaking, pressure cooking). This is a big batch of beans, so you can save some for another night, which will save a lot of time. Two sessions: (1) 15 minutes in the morning. (2) 65 minutes in the afternoon. *In the morning:* Pick over the black beans to remove the ugly ones (shriveled or discolored ones, stones, etc). Bring 6 cups water, the 1 lb beans to boil (took about 10 minutes). Let boil for one minute. Turn off heat and soak for at least 1 hour, up to 6 hours. *Prepare sofrito:* Combine in coffee grinder: 2 tspn salt and the spices (1 TB minced chipotle pepper, 3 bay leaves, 8 sage leaves, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 arbol chili). Whirr to pulverize them. Add to blender with about 8 minced garlic cloves, 1 TB olive oil, 1 TB vinegar and 1/4 cup water. Pulse the blender. Let sit about 5 minutes so the garlic releases its flavor. Meanwhile, roughly the onion and the red pepper and add to the blender. Blend everything until smooth, then set the blender aside. *In the afternoon, pressure cook:* Add 2 Tb olive oil to the beans in the pressure cooker pot (no need to replace the liquid). Lock lid, heat to high pressure (takes about 13 minutes), then reduce to med-high heat and let rock 13 minutes. Turn off the heat and let pressure release naturally (takes about 20 minutes). *Real cooking:* After the pressure cooker cools and the pressure releases, remove 1/3 cup cooked beans, add to the blender with sofrito and blend until smooth. This makes about 2-1/2 to 3 cups of thick, light brown sofrito. Reserve 1 cup liquid from the pot of beans. Pour the sofrito from the blender into the pot of beans, then use the cup of reserved liquid to rinse the rest of the sofrito from the blender, and pour it all into the pot. Simmer about 15 minutes over medium heat. Stir every couple of minutes, to fully mix in the solids collecting on the bottom. When a black crust starts to form between stirrings, it is done. Turn off the heat and mix the crust in. *Freeze and Substitute for Canned:* You will have about 7 cups of prepared black beans (about 14 servings), which can be divided among 4 pint-sized freezer containers (about 1-3/4 cups each) and used in any recipe that calls for a 15.5 oz. can of black beans. Let cool, tighten lids and store in freezer. If you remember in the morning, thaw a container on the counter. Otherwise, you'll need to thaw frozen beans. Either heat them in a rice cooker for about 20 minutes, or in a saucepan over low heat for about 15 minutes, breaking them apart every few minutes. *Notes:* (1) Refried beans are very easy. One serving would be about 3/4 cup. Add a little olive oil to a skillet, just a bit more than you need to prevent sticking. Use an old-fashioned potato masher as you heat them. Obviously, you need to add minced garlic :). (2) Black bean soup for 2-3 servings is very easy. Saute a finely diced small onion in some oil. Add a minced garlic clove and maybe a 1/4 tspn of ground cumin for about the last minute before adding 2 cups of broth and one container of black beans. Bring to a simmer. If you want to thicken it a little, you could add 1/4 tspn corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water or 1/4 tspn of chia seeds. Add a squeeze of lime juice, maybe a tspn or two, and serve hot. Great with guacamole. (3) Soaking time can last, say, 1-6 hours. For black beans, 1 hour is minimum for digestibility, and 6 hours is maximum for firmness. If you like mushy beans, you can soak black beans overnight. (4) Substitute any sofrito ingredients or recipes to your liking. Definitely add 1/3 cup of beans to the blender, since you need to release their starch to thicken the black bean sauce. The bay leaves will be pulverized into the sofrito, so no sharp edges. You won't need to remove them as in ordinary usage. (5) Nutrition data: This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Vitamin C, Thiamin, Iron, Copper and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber and Folate. Each freezer container has about 26 g of high quality protein. At 3.5 half-cup servings per container, that's 7 grams protein/serving.

SOFRITO

Steps:

• In a food processor, combine green peppers, red peppers ajies dulces, tomatoes, onions, and garlic. Add cilantro, recao, salt, and pepper. Process to the consistency of semi-chunky salsa (not watery). Place in a resealable plastic freezer bag, and use as needed, or freeze in portions.

SOFRITO BLACK BEANS (GUATEMALAN STYLE)

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil, sauté the onion until dark golden brown, but not burned, add the beans, Careful because when you add the beans to the oil, the oil will react to the water in the beans, and it may cause a burn, add the water, simmer until 1/4 of the liquid is reduced, check for salt.

SOFRITO BEANS

Steps:

• Heat oil in large skillet.
• Add next 7 ingredients.
• Cook 5 minutes.
• Stir in tomatoes and sauce.
• Cook another 5 minutes.
• Stir in beans.
• Another 5 minutes!
• Serve over a mound of rice.

GUATEMALAN STYLE BLACK BEANS

Steps:

• Soak beans over night.
• When ready place all ingredients in either a slow cooker, pressure cooker or stock pot on the stove and let simmer all day on low. Usually around 6 hours.
• Serve with sour cream, sweet plantains, tortillas or fresh bread.

YELLOW RICE AND SOFRITO BEANS WITH JAMMY EGGS

Steps:

• Stir together water, rice, and sazón seasoning in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Let stand, covered, 10 minutes. Stir in hominy, cilantro, and green onions.
• Meanwhile, fill a large saucepan halfway with cold water. Bring to a boil. Using a slotted spoon, carefully lower eggs into water. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle boil. Boil 8 minutes for jammy yolks. Remove from water with a slotted spoon and let cool slightly. When just cool enough to handle, gently tap eggs on the counter and carefully peel off shells. Cut eggs in half.
• Stir together black beans, sofrito, and salt in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low until warmed through, about 3 minutes.
• Divide rice and bean mixtures between 6 bowls. Top with eggs and sprinkle with black pepper.