Black beans make a great side dish. Some of our favorite main dish recipes to serve these with are Slow Cooker Cuban Mojo Pork, Crispy Mexican Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas, Sriracha Mayo Marinated Grilled Lamb Chops, and Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Barbacoa.
Brazilian Black Beans
Remember how last week I posted a recipe for Brazilian style white rice? Well, man cannot live on bread rice alone. (I hope it’s not blasphemous to quote the scriptures this way.) Seriously though, rice & beans is a staple for millions and millions of people around the world and for good reason. It’s delicious! And together they make a complete protein so they are super nutritious and filling too! Also, be sure to make a batch of Brazilian lemonade to go with them! I could eat rice & beans every.single.day. and I’m not even kidding. I spent a good part of my life doing pretty much just that when I was serving as a missionary for my church and ate whatever was served to me, which was often rice and beans (although Haitian style rather than Brazilian black beans like I’m sharing here – my favorite Haitian version will come in time because they are quite different but also ridiculously delicious). Now, you could make these beans using canned black beans. But dry beans are typically ½ to 2/3 the cost of canned beans, so you can save quite a bit of dinheiro using the dried variety. The only catch is that unlike canned beans, dry beans need to be soaked overnight before cooking them. Or you could make them using a pressure cooker and speed up the process, but unfortunately, I don’t have one (or the room to store one!). So today I want to share with you a secret to using dry beans that is perfect for somebody like me, who never, ever remembers to start soaking the beans the night before. It only takes an hour and starts the softening process so that the beans will cook more quickly and evenly. And during that soaking time, you can be working on preparing the rest of your meal, so really this is kind of a perfect and economical solution. Plus, it’s just really satisfying to use dry beans, you know? So here’s what you do. First dump your bag of dry beans into a colander and rinse them well, looking for little rocks or debris. Honestly? I’ve never found anything. But I see this advice every time I ever read anything having to do with dry beans so I figure it must be important, right? Then you dump the rinsed beans into a pot big enough to hold your beans and enough water to cover them with a full 2 inches of water. (Incidentally, this method works regardless of whether you are doing a small or large amount of beans). Stick the pot on the stove over high heat and bring it to a boil. Let it boil for 1 minute before removing the pot from the heat and sticking a lid on it. After that, you just let the beans soak for an hour, then drain and rinse and you are ready to go! Easy-peasy! Once your beans are soaked, drained and rinsed, they go back in the pot and cook for about an hour. Towards the end of the cooking process, you saute onions and garlic in a little oil, and then mix in the soaked and cooked beans and some of my favorite spices that are commonly used in latin dishes (cumin! coriander! oregano! where would I be without you?!), and voila, you have fantastic Brazilian black beans to serve with rice as a simple lunch, or as a side with some delicious grilled chicken and avocado (sooooo good). Or you can make extra to use in enchiladas or fajitas or salads later in the week.
More Recipes You Might Enjoy If You Like Beans
Best Baked Beans RecipeCharro Beans (Frijoles Charros)Cafe Rio Black Beans & Cilantro Lime RiceVegetarian Swiss Chard and Pinto Bean BurritosBest Ever Meaty Mushroom ChiliInstant Pot Pork and BeansInstant Pot Refried Beans
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
