The Best Black Beans Ever! from Guatemala

How to make the best black beans ever:

           

Street in Santiago Atitlan.

  When I lived with my host family in Guatemala, we always had black beans in the kitchen.  Whether it was a pan of beans on the stove, an old yogurt container of them in the fridge, or a huge pot of soup, we always had my host grandmother’s beans, and they were always delicious.  I finally worked up the courage and the Spanish to ask my abuela if she could share her recipe with me, and she did!  We separated the bad beans from the good ones and she showed me how the bad beans float and how she just throws the whole carrot in the pot.  I have modified her directions after making black beans several times at home, but in keeping with the Latin American tradition of not measuring things, most every part of this recipe is to taste.

From dried beans:

Soak about two cups of dried black beans overnight

Pour out the water and transfer to crockpot dish

Add water to cover the beans

Add at least two cloves of garlic- more if you like garlic

Add onion to taste (I usually use a whole one or more)

Optional cilantro (you can add a few sprigs of the fresh stuff or up to a quarter of a bundle.)

Optional carrot (I can’t tell the difference so I leave it out)

Salt! Add to taste.

Turn the crockpot on low for most of the day and check the beans from time to time to make sure they don’t get too mushy to be appetizing.

From canned black beans:

Add onion, garlic, cilantro, and carrot to taste.  Salt is usually already added.

Simmer for a while (1 hr) - the longer, the better.

I had these beans almost every day for two months! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. J 

A Guatemalan neighborhood

Recipe submitted by ~Suzanne Opel~