Ingredients
- 1 pound of dry pinto beans
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- ½ of a white or yellow onion
- 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cups of water
- 1 cup of mild cheddar cheese – optional
- ½ teaspoon cumin – optional
Directions
I prefer to cook the beans in a crock pot or slow cooker, but if you prefer a good old fashion pot, or pressure cooker be my guest. Just remember that if you use a pot, keep a close eye on the beans because you don’t want a pot of burnt beans on your hands. And if you choose to use a pressure cooker remember that your cooking time will be drastically reduced.
- Place beans in a medium sized bowl and wash them thoroughly, also pick out any rocks that might have made it through accidentally.
- Pour the beans along with 4 cups of water into your pot and add 1 teaspoon of your salt.
- Cover beans and set crockpot to high.
- Cook for 2 hours and then stir. Make sure you have enough water. By this time the beans should have absorbed a lot of the water, but you should still have quite a bit left. If you feel like it is looking too dry just add some extra water.
- Check your beans at the four hour mark. If they are tender then turn off the heat and let them hang out while you start the onions.
- Heat up a heavy bottom pan over medium heat, do not use nonstick if you can help it.
- Add all four tablespoons of your olive oil to the pan
- Chop up the onions. No need to be fancy here, just give them a quick once over.
- Place the onions in the olive oil and sprinkle them with a teaspoon of salt, then stir them a few times making sure the onions are coated with oil.
- Put a lid over the pan and let the onions cook until they become soft, translucent, or even a little brown. The most important thing is that they are soft, since they need to mash into the beans.
- Once the onions are ready add your beans to the pan along with about a cup of the water you cooked them in.
- Stir the onions and beans together.
- At this point you have a couple of options. You can either mash the beans and onions together with a mashing tool. Just pretend like you are making mashed potatoes. Or you can do what I like to do, which is pull out the handy dandy blender stick. The blender stick really does the job.
- Once the beans have the consistency that you are looking for, give them a taste. You may need to add some salt. I will usually stir in a cup of mild cheddar and add a teaspoon of cumin. It is up to you. If you wanted to make this recipe organic simply using organic beans, onions and oil, would just about do it. If you want vegan then do not add the cheese.
In my family we like to make a bowl of Pico de Gallo, heat up some tortillas and chow on homemade burritos, but I'm just as happy with a bowl of beans and a spoon.
I'm including these pictures to help those who are visual learners. It helps when you are wondering if you are going in the right direction.
