Cuban Style Black Beans

When you think of Miami, you may think of cruise ships, Ocean Drive, and South Beach, but what you should be thinking of is CUBAN FOOD! Miami has an incredibly diverse population including people from every island in the Caribbean—and most of them are from Cuba. Consequently, it is a great place to sample Cuban cuisine. But you don’t have to come all the way to Miami to try Cuban food. Just about anywhere you can get everything you need for a traditional Cuban staple—Cuban Style Black Beans.

This recipe includes a sofrito—a preparation made of a combination of aromatic ingredients. Different cultures have different sofritos and a Cuban sofrito is based on green bell pepper.

Cuban Style Black Beans

1 cup dry black beans
4 cups of water
1 green bell pepper
2 cups of water
2 cups of chicken broth
1 small onion
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tsp salt
1 bay leaf
1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon sugar

Split the bell pepper and cut up half of it into small chunks—save the other half for the sofrito. Soak the cut up pepper and beans in water overnight or at least 8 hours (or boil for 2 minutes and let soak at least 1 hour).

Drain off the water and cover beans in 2 cups of water, plus 2 cups of chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for 1-½ hours.

Prepare the sofrito by combining the other half of the pepper, onion, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt, and a little of the cooking water in a blender; puree.

Add the sofrito, bay leaf, vinegar, and sugar and simmer beans uncovered another 2 hours. Leaving the pot uncovered will thicken up the sauce. Remove the bay leaf. Serve over rice.

(Serves 4 and is easily doubled.)

BONUS: A certain popular, Miami-based fast food chain serves a curry mustard sauce with their beans and rice. It can be created at home very easily and is also excellent with chicken. Simply combine 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons yellow mustard and about 1 teaspoon curry powder.