Blackbeans done easily in the InstantPot
Beanbeans are a staple of Mexican and texmex food, but they’re not that common in the UK. You can get them in tins but they’re faily expensive and they’ve never had the texture I remember. I’ve tried for years to reproduce the first ones I had (Austin, Texas I think), soaking for hours, slow cooking, doing them on the stove top, never quite getting the right finish.
Step in the InstantPot! It turns out pressure cooking was what I was missing. This is another good example of the Instant Pot power combo, pressure cooking then saute mode.
You will need
- A cup of tried blackbeans (also sold as “turtle beans”), I got mine from the very excellent Lupe Pintos
- 3x the volume of beans of water
- A blob of butter (salted)
- Equal amount of garlic (I used a frozen block)
- A heaped teaspoon or dried oregano (this is no substitute for Mexican oregano)
- A bare teaspoon of smoked paprika (hot)
Do
- Stick it all in the Instant Pot and pressure cook for 50 minutes
- Once it’s done check the beans are tender but still with a bit of bite
- Pop it on saute mode for 15 minutes or so until the liquid has reduced enough you can leave a path when you drag a spoon though it
Result
Savoury, a great foil to spicy things, earthy and comforting.
I think it might be best left to go cold and then gently reheated. We scooped it into warm tortilla with left over spicy lamb, feta and bits.
Next time I’ll do a much bigger batch and freeze it.
