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Prep time
5 minutes
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Cook time
1 hour
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makes
About 6 cups
Author Notes
It doesn’t get any simpler than putting a bunch of beans (maybe soaked, maybe not) in a pot, covering them with a good deal of water, and turning on the heat. You can add flavors in the form of spices or aromatics (onions, carrots, herbs). You can putter about, dipping in your spoon as you go. In the end, beans, water, heat, and some salt are all you need to make a delicious meal. Everything that goes with it is a matter of what you have on hand and how you want to dress up something that is already pretty great on its own.
Here's how you can make a week's worth of black beans without any boredom. Cook ’em once; eat ’em five times. Stretch one big pot of black beans into a workweek’s worth of distinct meals. —abraberens
Test Kitchen Notes
Reprinted from Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds, and Legumes by Abra Berens with permission from Chronicle Books, 2021. Photographs © EE Berger. —The Editors
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Ingredients
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1/4 cup
(60 milliliters) neutral oil
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1 teaspoon
smoked paprika
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1 teaspoon
cumin seeds
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1/2 teaspoon
chili flakes (optional)
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2 cups
(400 grams) dried black beans, soaked or not, depending on your state of mind
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1/2 teaspoon
kosher salt
Directions
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In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the oil. Add paprika, cumin, and chili flakes, if using, and fry to bloom for about 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the beans and toss to coat, then cover with cold water by 2 inches (5 centimeters), bring
to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook until tender, adding more water if needed.
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When the beans are tender, add the salt and let the beans cool in
the cooking liquid for at least 10 minutes (like soup, they get
better the longer they sit—ideally, overnight). (You can reserve
the cooking liquid for various uses, if you like.)
Abra Berens is a chef, author, and former vegetable farmer. She started cooking at Zingerman's Deli, trained at Ballymaloe in Cork, Ireland. Find her at Granor Farm in Three Oaks, MI. Her first two cookbooks Ruffage and Grist are out now. The third Pulp: a practical guide to cooking with fruit publishes on April 4th, 2023.
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