Charro Beans

Ingredients

• Black beans

  raw

  454g

• Water

  6 cup or 1.42kg

• Onion

  raw

  ¼ medium or 28g

• Salt

  table

  ½ tsp or 3g

• Bay

  Castella

  100g

• Bacon

  raw, cured pork

  500g

• Chorizo Sausage

  Fud

  5 oz or 142g

• Smoked sausage

  smoked, beef, pork, chicken, skinless

  100g

• Sweet onion

  raw

  ½ onion or 166g

• Garlic

  raw

  3 cloves, minced or 9g

• Orange tomatoes

  raw

  2 tomato or 222g

• Jalapeno peppers

  raw

  100g

• Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce

  La Costena

  50g

• Cilantro

  Asian Items - Melissa's

  1 cup or 16g

• Cumin seed

  ½ tsp, whole or 1g

• Paprika

  ½ tsp or 1g

• Oregano

  dried

  ½ tsp, leaves or 0.5g

• Salt

  table

  1 dash or 0.4g

• Black pepper

  ground

  1 dash or 0.1g

• Bouillon

  Cubes, Chicken - Hannaford

  100g

Directions

1. Cook the Pinto beans:*
2. Pour dry beans into a colander and rinse them off, removing any unwanted pieces. Add to a large pot with 6 cups of water (or enough to cover them by about 2 inches), a small chunk of onion, bay leaf and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 to 2 hours, until the beans are tender, but not bursting. (Mine usually take about 1 hour but depends on how dry/old your beans are). Check them a few times during cooking to make sure they are covered in water and add a little more water if needed.
4. Once the beans are tender, drain them, reserving the liquid and pouring it into a measuring cup. Add additional water (or reduce liquid if needed) to make 2 1/2 cups of total liquid. Stir in 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon. Set aside.
5. Make Charro beans:
6. Add the bacon and chorizo to a large pot and cook for about 5 minutes or until bacon is cooked. Remove some of the grease. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent. Add ham (sausages, if using), diced tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, oregano, paprika, cumin, black pepper and cook for 5 additional minutes.
7. Add cooked beans and broth and simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper, or additional spices if needed. Garnish with cilantro before serving.
8. Serve as a main dish, wish warm tortillas, or as a side dish. When serving as a side dish I like to thicken the beans by adding a cornstarch slurry at the end (1 tablespoon of corn starch mixed with 2 tablespoons of water).
9. (source: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/charro-beans/)