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New to SooN Cooking?

No problem! Some quick background on the concept: I love to cook and realized that I often had to adjust my meal plan to accomodate for for my friends and family with dietary requirements when they joined me for a meal.  More often than not, I didn’t know how to modify my recipe to address their dietary needs which launched me into some deep research and left me with a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt that I was preparing the recipe the right way for my guest.  A concept that I now call Meal Planning FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt]. To combat Meal Planning FUD each of my recipes has eight variations which covers everything from vegetarian to Kosher to gluten-free so that you can cut the Meal Planning FUD out of your life and feel comfortable serving the recipe to a variety of guests. Check out the SooN Cooking About page for the complete details.

Serves: 6-8 | Prep: 27 minutes | Cook: 18 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups dry black beans
• 2 TBS Kosher Salt
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 1 Tomatillo
• 1/2 white onion
• 1/8 tsp liquid smoke
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 can green chili
• water

Original

#1: Prep the Beans

Soak the beans in water for a minimum of 20 minutes. While the beans are soaking do the following and add to your slow-cooking-hardware-of-choice:

• dice the onion
• mince the garlic

Rinse the beans and add them to your cooking hardware of choice.

Pro Tip: If these beans are a side dish to a protein which you slow cooked — soak the dry beans in the leftover cooking liquid for added flavor!

#2: Cook the Beans

Add the stock or water so that it is ~1-inch above the bean level. Add the remaining ingredients and cook based on the following guidelines:

• Electric Pressure Cooker | 30 minutes high pressure, natural release
• Cast Iron Dutch Oven or Stock Pot | 60 minutes

Note cooking times may vary; beans are ready when you can smash a bean easily with the back of a spoon.

#3: Finish and Serve

Remove the bay leaf. Break up the tomatillo and mix it in. Reserve 1 cup of the liquid then strain the beans into the colander. Transfer the beans into a serving dish and add the reserved liquid so they do not get to dry.

Express

The electric pressure cooker was the best thing that happened to dry beans…ever. Even so, if you don’t have the time to transform those suckers into something edible you can sneak by with this hack:

• 1 TBS garlic granular
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 cup green salsa

Combine everything in a saucepan and cook on medium-high heat until it boils.

Vegetarian

The Original recipe is Vegetarian. Validate the can of Black Beans you choose is Vegetarian and the Express recipes would also work.

Not familiar with a Vegetarian diet? Learn more using the SooN LIVING Dietary Requirements Decoder.

Kosher

Make sure to use Kosher certified products when serving black beans to someone who keeps Kosher.

Once you check that box — the steps in either the Original or the Express recipes will work.

Not familiar with a Kosher diet? Learn more using the SooN LIVING Dietary Requirements Decoder.

Halal

Make sure to use Halal certified products when serving when serving black beans to someone who keeps Halal.

Once you check that box — the steps in either the Original or the Express recipes will work.

Not familiar with a Halal diet? Learn more using the SooN LIVING Dietary Requirements Decoder.

Celiac

Make sure none of the ingredients used to make the black beans have gluten in them.

Once you check that box — the steps in either the Original or the Express recipes will be safe for the Celiac diet.

Not familiar with a Celiac diet? Learn more using the SooN LIVING Dietary Requirements Decoder.

for One

Purely cause I don’t want to do too many dishes, whenever I am cooking black beans for one, I follow the Express recipe.

If you don’t mind the extra dishes and time, cut the Original recipe in forths and follow the remaining directions.

for Kids

My toddlers loved beans. Sadly, they seemed to have grown out of that.  I always make them eat 5 beans. At least they are practicing their counting as we go through the hassle of getting them to follow through.