I may be late for Cinco de Mayo, but then again, I was at least one week late for Saint Patrick’s Day. No biggie! Great food can be served year ’round.
I tend to freak out when I read labels on canned foods. Either there are too many preservatives, cans lined with BPA, or a sodium level that’s off the charts. Even though canned goods are relatively inexpensive, they can be MUCH cheaper to make at home.
Dried beans are about the cheapest item you can find at the grocery store. I have access to a bulk, organic, food coop, which brings the price down even farther, and ramps up the quality. The best thing about making refried beans at home, is I get to control what they taste like, and how mushy they are. As a middle child with confidence issues, this is a huge deal! 🙂
Dump in some dried herbs and onions to get fantastic flavour while needing less salt.
Anyway, with the pressure cooker, there’s no need to pre-soak the beans. It is important to sort through the beans, take out anything that looks funky, then rinse them well. (Once you see how cloudy the water is after rinsing, you will never skip this step again!)
Once they have cooked, I dump the beans into another pan to mash them. I have an old, metal potato masher, and don’t really want to scratch the pressure cooker pot. The beans might look a little runny, but somehow they thicken up as they stand – another one of those cooking mysteries.
Make a large batch and freeze in 1-2 cup amounts for future use.
PrintRefried Pinto Beans – Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried pinto beans
- 4 1/2 cups water or broth
- 2 Tbsp minced (dried) onion
- 2 tsp dried cilantro
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp chili pepper flakes
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Sort through beans, discarding anything funky, then rinse thoroughly
- Combine beans, water or broth, minced onion, cilantro, cumin, garlic powder, and pepper flakes in pressure cooker. Stir. Seal up, set to 45 minutes on high pressure.
- Allow pressure to release naturally, which takes about 10 minutes.
- Mash with potato masher (I remove beans from the pressure cooker, so I don’t scratch the lining with my metal masher), then season to taste.
- This freezes well, just make certain to freeze in serving-sized containers (I put 1 1/2 cups in freezer bag or glass container)
