Heart Healthy New Mexican 🌶️

Tag: vegetarian

  • Beans

    This is our universal recipe for cooking dried beans, including the quick soak. It is intentionally lightly seasoned, both in terms of sodium and with regard to other flavorings. This lets the cooked beans be eaten as-is or used in other dishes, with sodium budget to spare and without conflicting with other flavors.

    This recipe was developed using pintos (far and away the most common bean in New Mexico), but should work equally well for any other small-to-medium bean.

    Nutrition

    Per serving (1/2 cup, cooked)

    • 250mg sodium
    • 1.1g fat (0.2g saturated)
    • 22.5g carbs, 7.5g fiber (15 net carbs)
    • 7.5g protein
    • 122 calories

    Recipe

    Beans

    Our basic beans recipe
    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 1 hour 10 minutes
    Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
    Servings: 6
    Cuisine: New Mexican
    Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

    Ingredients
      

    • 320 g pinto beans (dried)
    • 6 cups water (750mL)
    • 3.3 g table salt
    • 1 tsp MSG
    • 1 1/2 tsp cumin (crushed/ground)
    • 1/2 tsp onion powder
    • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
    • chile peppers (dried and whole, to taste)

    Equipment

    • Kitchen scale (capable of measuring tenths of grams)
    • Colander

    Method
     

    Quick soak
    1. Measure out the dry beans
    2. Add beans to pot, then cover with plenty of water
    3. Bring to a boil
    4. Hold at a rolling boil for two minutes
    5. Turn off heat, cover pot, and let the beans soak for one hour
    6. Pour off water and rinse beans in colander
    Cook
    1. Return beans to pot and add the measured water
    2. Return to a boil and skim off any scum
    3. Reduce heat to a simmer, stir in seasonings, and chiles
    4. Return to a simmer if needed. Cover and cook for one hour.
    5. After the first hour, test beans. If not yet done, cook for 15 minutes more and check again. Repeat as needed, cooking and testing in 15 minute increments.
    6. Remove chile pods
    7. Serve immediately, or cool and retain for use in other recipes

    Notes

    A serving is 1/2 cup of cooked beans. One serving (with broth) will contain approximately 250mg of sodium, allowing this recipe to be used as a side or as part of another dish.