Refried Beans - Still Sweet Style 101

Refried beans at a decent Mexican restaurant are like silkiness to the tongue. Wonderful buttery beans swaddled in lard to give them the perfect texture and flavor. I used to just open up a can of refried beans, pry them out of the can and call it a day. I'm not sure what possessed me to concoct a similar texture out of a can of whole beans, but I did. My family loved them and soon they were scoffing at the can of refried canned gloppy beans.

I whip these up often because it's so quick and so versatile. Today I'll give you a little refried bean lesson.

• Your beans: I enjoy either pinto or black for this recipe. But most of the time I'm pretty picky about which brand of bean to use. Progresso makes a really good pinto bean, but I like this because it's organic. I have noticed that cheap beans don't come out as good.

You will need 2 cans to make enough for a family of 4. I like to open mine and pour off just a bit of the juice. This is about the only recipe where I don't drain or rinse my beans (you'll see why later).

• Next the stuff that makes it so yummy: One jalapeno seeded (unless you like it hot), and diced. Two cloves garlic minced. I prefer to make a paste with salt on top of the cloves on my cutting board, but I also have been using my pre-minced stash which is handy. And last about 1-2 Tablespoons of cumin powder.

All of this goes into a pan with about 2 good Tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat. I like to toast up my cumin powder with the garlic and pepper. After a minute or so dump in your cans of beans. Don't let your garlic burn whatever you do (not that I've ever done that, no way).

• Smooshing: Smooshing the beans is an important step. Use the back of your spoon and squish some of the beans. Not all of them, who's got time for that? Just enough to smooth out the texture and thicken things up. Now let them simmer fairly high. All that bean sauce is going to thicken and smooth out. Now go and chop more stuff up, but don't forget about your beans. Give them a little stir now and then. Go chop.

• Getting ready for the end: This is where my picture may vary from what I say. Do as I say folks, not as I do. I usually like a nice heap of cilantro dumped in at the end. This particular day I forgot I used up all of my cilantro and instead turned to some green onions. So whilst your beans are re-frying chop up some cilantro (green onions were lovely though in this, but I enjoy cilantro immensely). Oh and halve a lime, you'll need it.

So this is now what your little beans are looking like after about 4-5 minutes:



Not the prettiest for a picture, but they taste divine. I usually leave my beans on the heat until they are just starting to thicken and look like that. Then I remove them from the heat where they will thicken up a bit more. I stir in some pepper here too.

• Finishing things up: Here is where you throw in your chopped cilantro and I squeeze just a touch of lime over the top. Not even a half of a lime, just a touch.
  

• Re-spicing: Go ahead and take a taste. I usually end up adding more pepper and a little more cumin powder (I like the addition of non-toasted cumin at the end). Now I don't add any more salt than the salt I used to mash the garlic. My love has high blood pressure and we've become pretty sensitive to salt. You on the other hand may need to add some.

Now go ahead and use these however you wish. My favorite of all time is bean tacos.


While your at it try Homesick Texan's recipe for rice. This recipe is so easy and so tasty. I will admit to struggling with my Spanish rice for years. Hallelujah for her recipe.

These beans my not be the lard laden lovelies of the restaurant, but they will satisfy even the most die hard refried bean need. With out clogging up your arteries or leaving most of them stuck on the inside of the can.