This recipe for Mexican Refried Beans and Homemade Queso Blanco is a real treat. It is an ideal accompaniment to your eggs in the morning or as an aperitif with nachos accompanied by a microbrewery beer.
Here is a classic. We always have refried beans in the fridge ready to go with our meals. It is an excellent source of vegetable protein.
Its preparation is simple and the result is delicious.
Let's start with the basics.
Dried beans or canned beans?
Dried beans take longer to prepare, but their taste is much tastier. Canned beans have the advantage of being prepared much more quickly.
It can be a good way to try this recipe for the first time and if you like it, start cooking your beans during your next preparation.
Prefer black or red beans.
How to cook dried beans?
It's simple, but long. It is therefore necessary to take it a day in advance. Here's how:
Put 1 bag (about 900g) of dried beans in a large saucepan. Cover with about 3cm of water. Let stand for about 8 hours (usually we let them soak before going to sleep and in the morning we cook them).
After 8h, remove the soaking water. Then cover with about 2cm of water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer.
After 15min of cooking, add salt to taste, 1 onion cut into quarters and 4 cloves of garlic.
Cook until the beans are tender (about 45min in total, but watch their cooking).
That's it, you now have cooked beans to prepare your "frijoles refritos" and queso blanco.
When needed, cooked beans freeze well.
Now our main recipe: "frijoles refritos and queso blanco"!
Ingredients
- 1 drizzle of vegetable oil
- 1/2 chopped onion
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 dry "chile guajillo" pepper cut into pieces (optional, but the taste is excellent, sold in Latin American food stores)
- 2 dry "chile de árbol" peppers, cut into pieces (take 1 teaspoon of crushed red peppers or cayenne pepper powder if you can't find it).
- 1/4 tsp. ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1 pinch of salt (to taste)
- 1 C. dried oregano
- 2 cups of cooked beans and its cooking water
Accompaniment when serving:
- crumbled homemade queso blanco to taste
- sour cream to taste.
Instructions :
1 - In a pan, put a drizzle of vegetable oil. Turn on medium heat. Add the onions and blanch them.
2 - Add the garlic, the "chile guajillo" and the "chile de árbol" (if you only have cayenne pepper powder, wait for step 3 before adding it). Fry for a few minutes or until the garlic is cooked and the peppers are golden.
3 - Add a little more vegetable oil if needed and fry the spices for 2 minutes, mixing: cumin and paprika (as well as the cayenne pepper if necessary). This will help bring out their taste
4 - Add the frijoles, their cooking water and mix. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer. Stir from time to time to prevent the frijoles from sticking. Leave to cook for ten minutes.
5 - Using a potato crusher, crush the beans to 75% while mixing. Thus, you will have an interesting mixture of texture. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.
6 - Add salt and dried oregano.
Serve hot with crumbled homemade queso blanco cheese on top and a little sour cream!
Store in a closed container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
Enjoy your food !
