Frjoles de la Olla
Servings 8 Servings
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups of dry pinto beans
- 1 medium white onion peeled and sliced in half
- 1 whole bulb garlic slice in half
- 2 bay leaves
- 1-2 serrano or jalapeño sliced
- 4 quarts of water
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Remove any broken beans or stones you find. Transfer beans to a colander. Rinse well under cool water several times. Transfer to a large pot and cover with water. Let the beans soak overnight.
- Drain and rinse the beans the next day. Transfer to a large bean pot and cover with 4 quarts of water. Add the onion, garlic, chile pepper and bay leaves. Cover pot ¾ of the way and heat to medium.
- When the beans come up to a boil, reduce the heat to a steady simmer and continue cooking for 2 ½-3 hours or until beans are soft and tender. If the water reduces too much, pour in more boiling water. You never want to pour in cold water or it will take longer for beans to cook.
- Once beans are soft and cooked through, season with salt, to taste. Let beans cool before storing in an airtight container refrigerated for 4-5 days.
Notes
Tips~ To freeze, divide into 2 cup portions with enough broth to cover and freeze in airtight containers or quart size freezer bags. For more flavorful fried and refried beans later blend the beans with the onion, garlic and chile pepper that they were cooked with. I knew I wanted to prepare the charro beans, so that is why I added all the sliced jalapeños to the dried beans while they cooked. Typically, I may just thrown in 1 whole chile jalapeño.