Vegetarian Black Beans (Frijoles Negros) Cuban Style
Makes
8
servingsFrom this simple recipe come a lot of dishes that are used in my house. It is the base for Cuban Black Bean Soup and the favorite “Moors and Christians” dish.
I served this dish at a festival and it sold out. The customers at the festival came to buy Tonita’s Sweet Vine Cuban Sauce and ended up telling others to come try our sauce and black beans. It was so popular, folks began dancing in front of our booth to the festival music!
Ingredients
1 pound package of black beans, rinsed, picked over and soaked overnight in cold water
1/2 cup red onion, chopped into medium chunks
2 bay leaves
1 medium green pepper, cored, seeded and diced into small chunks
16 oz jar Tonita’s Sweet Vine Cuban Sauce, mild or spicy
Directions
- Add beans in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring beans to a boil over high heat for 10-15 minutes, reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer for one hour.
- Add onion, green bell pepper and bay leaves.
- Continue to add water and stir while beans are simmering to keep beans covered with water.
- Bring the beans to a boil again, reduce heat and cook uncovered until tender, about 1/2 hour. Reduce adding water toward the end of cooking. The goal is to have the beans barely covered with water by the time they are tender.
- Add ½ jar of the sauce to the beans, mix well and cook over low heat covered until beans are very tender, about 30 minutes. The total cook time is 2 hours.
- Add the other ½ of sauce with 2-3 ladles of beans to a blender and blend well. Pour the mixture into the pot.
- Season to taste with sea salt and serve over rice, quinoa or wild rice.
