Black Beans: Simple and delicious

My dear friend Erin is leaving Champaign for Salt Lake City.  Our community will be less without her.  Last night, we held a farewell party for her, and several attendees asked me to post the some of the recipes.  I cooked for two lovely, but hot days.  Tacos for 45.  Now that's a lot of tacos!  I made 4 salsas: de arbol, roasted tomatillo, roasted tomato, and a mango xnipek that was hot enough to blow off your head; 3 fillings: chicken with red chile sauce, sautéed vegetables in a tomatillo sauce, and a wonderfully delicious poblano and chard rajas; lime and cilantro rice; corn salad with jicama; queso fresco, and these wonderful black beans.  This recipe is vegetarian and can easily be made into a soup with the addition of vegetable broth.  I hope you enjoy it as much as my guests did.

Ingredients for cooking beans
1 lb. dried black beans, picked over and washed
2 serrano chiles
1 t. garlic powder
2 bay leaves
1 t. dried epasote
1 t. Mexican Oregano

Ingredients for finishing beans
3 T. vegetable oil
1 white onion, chopped into 1/4 inch dice
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 chipolte pepper in adobo, finely minced
1 t. adobo from chipolte can
1/2 t. cumin powder
1/2 t. dried epasote
1/2 t. dried mexican oregano
1/2 c. orange juice
1/2 lime, juiced
salt
1/4 c. cilantro, finely chopped

Directions


The night before you make your beans, sort them looking for stones, wash them and soak them in a large pot with at least three times as much cold water as you have beans.  About 4-5 hours before you want to eat them, rinse your beans and throw out the now purple water.  But the beans back in a large pot (preferably a pot with a heavy bottom such as an enameled cast iron pot).  Add enough water to cover the beans by 4 inches of water.  Add serrano chiles, garlic powder, bay leaves, epasote, and oregano.  Bring the water to a boil and simmer until the beans are tender (taste 4-5--they should each be soft).
In a second heavy bottomed dutch oven, heat the oil and sauté the onions until they are browned on the edges and are quite golden.  Add the garlic, chipolte, adobo, epasote, cumin, and oregano.  Saute for 1 minute more.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer the beans into the pot a few large spoons at a time (leave behind the bay leaves and chiles).  Mash the first cup of beans with a potato masher.  Add the rest of the beans and enough cooking liquid to make the beans rather soupy.  Add the orange and lime juice and simmer on low for at least an hour.  You can add more bean water to make the beans the consistency you want.  Season with salt to taste.  To finish, add the cilantro and serve.  Enjoy!

Tomato Chutney: A delicious, spicy, and versatile accompaniment for most anything

This dish is unlike the chutneys you might be used to. It is not sweet, but rather very flavorful and spicy.  Feel free to adjust the amount of red pepper.  This recipe makes a spicy chutney that is an amazing accompaniment to any Indian dish. I also love it on toast with yogurt or just with basmati rice and a good Greek style yogurt or Labna.


Tomato Chutney

4 lbs tomatoes (canned are ok, in which case, 3 large (28 oz.) cans whole peeled tomatoes)

2 lbs. onions, thinly sliced

3 green chiles, finely chopped

2 T. ground ginger

1 ½  T. ground garlic

1 T. black mustard seeds

1 t. cayenne

3 T. ground coriander

1 1/2 T. cumin seeds, ground

¾  t. salt (to taste)

4 T. ghee

Heat oil until nearly smoking.  Add mustard seeds.  When they pop, add thinly sliced onions.  Cook until golden.  Add ginger and garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Add spices and cook 2 minutes, stirring.

Add tomatoes.  Cook for a few hours on low, adding water as needed.  Cook until the chutney is thick.  Serve hot or cold.

Murchi Ka Saalan: A very hot and flavorful pepper curry

Mirchi ka Saalan

(Hot Pepper Curry: Hyderabadi Style)

(Adapted From: P. Karan:  Hyderabadi Cuisine)

Serve 10-12 as a side dish 

½ lb. long green chillies (can use serranoes) slit in half, seeds and stems removed

2 red peppers

2 green peppers

6 anaheim peppers

2 onions, medium (10-12 oz), cut into 4-6 pieces each

1” piece (about 1 Tablespoon) ginger

5-6 garlic cloves (about 2 Tablespoons) skinned removed

1 tbs coriander seeds

1 tsp Cumin seeds

3 tbs sesame seeds

¼ cup peanuts

1½ tsp white poppy seeds

2 tbs desiccated unsweetened coconut

¼ tsp fenugreek seeds

¼ tsp turmeric powder

I tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp jaggery (gur or natural cane sugar)

75 gm seedless tamarind or 3 tbs of Concentrated Cooking Tamarind (from Thailand)

6 curry leaves

1 cup oil

Salt to taste

Wash green chillies, cut in half and remove seeds and stems. Cut all peppers (after seeding) into 1-2 inch pieces.

     

Soak seedless tamarind pulp in one cup of warm water. Mash and sieve to get tamarind water. As an alternate use 3tbs of Concentrated Cooking Tamarind dissolved in ½ cup of warm water.

Roast the onions on a griddle till they soften and turn a pale golden brown (or place them in the broiler and broil until lightly charred on all sides).

Dry roast together over medium heat coriander seeds, cumin seeds, sesame seeds, peanuts, poppy seeds, coconut and the fenugreek seeds till they darken lightly and start  emitting aroma.

Grind together the roasted onions and spices along with ginger, garlic, salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, and jaggery into a fine paste. Mix with tamarind water.

Heat oil.  Fry all of the chillies in small batches until they have golden brown spots.  Remove to a colander to drain off excess oil.  

After all of the chilles have been fried, remove all oil except for 3 tablespoons (approximately).  Add curry leaves to the oil and after a few seconds add ground spices mixed in with tamarind water. Cook for 10 minutes and then add the fried green chillies. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add little water while cooking, in desired. Cook until the consistency of this dish is slightly on the thick side (about 20 minutes).

Serve this dish by spooning thick sauce over the peppers.