How To: Black Beans

I love black beans. I loooooooooove them.

Before living in India, I had never cooked black beans from the dry bean; I had only ever used canned black beans. It took me a few a LOT of tried to actually get them soft and cooked right. So here is how I like to do it!

I buy a bag of the black beans, called "Jammu Rajma" at my grocery store. 

Here's what they look like!

Dump them into a big bowl, and cover them with an inch of (filtered) water. Let them soak overnight.

The next day, you have one of two cooking options:

1) Pressure cooker (faster)

2) Slow cooker (uh, slower, but requires less attention)

Drain the water you soaked the beans in and rinse them off. If you're using a pressure cooker, dump the beans into the pressure cooker and cover them with about a half inch of water. Let them cook in the pressure cooker for about 8-10 "whistles", then check to see if they're soft enough for you. (Confession...my house helper always pressure cooks my black beans, so I'm kind of guessing on the amount of time it takes to cook them). 

** Note on using your pressure cooker - be sure ALL the pressure is out before trying to open it! You can just let it sit awhile until the pressure naturally disperses, or you can use tongs or another long handled utensil to hold open the pressure valve and allow more steam to escape. Or you can put your pressure cooker in the sink and pour cold (filtered) water over the outside of it, which also helps decrease the temperature and pressure. 

If you are using your slow cooker, dump your rinsed beans into the slow cooker, and then fill it with water about an inch above the beans. Cook them on high for several hours (I think mine cooked for at least 6-7 hours before they were soft). This is a great option if you don't need them in a hurry and don't want to pay attention to the pressure cooker.

After your beans are cooked, you can portion them out into smaller containers to refrigerate or freeze.

I like to put about 2 cups of beans per container, which is roughly the amount in a can of beans. Cover the beans with some of the liquid they cooked in to keep them from getting dry in the freezer. Allow the beans to cool COMPLETELY before putting in the freezer! Now you have cooked beans on hand whenever you need them! Just pull them out of the freezer and let them thaw before cooking dinner, or you can thaw them in the microwave if you forgot to pull them out early enough. 

I also really like to cook some of the black beans with some seasoning to use on taco bowls, salads, or to quickly make some Black Bean Quesadillas. Here's what to do:

Finely chop one small onion and 3-4 cloves of garlic.

Add your black beans, enough water to cover them, and the onions & garlic to a pot. Add about 3-4 tsps of cumin, and a tsp of chili powder, plus salt to taste. (If you want to add a kick of heat, add a few shakes of crushed red pepper). Bring this all to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for 20ish minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions are soft and it smells delicious. The beans are obviously already cooked; you're just letting the onions and garlic cook and all the flavor to simmer together.

Tastiness simmering away

Either serve immediately, or you can refrigerate or freeze just like the unseasoned beans! I could seriously eat these beans with just a big bowl of rice - yum.