Recipes for cooked mixed bean medley?

spend_thrift

I've just soaked and cooked 500g of dried mixed beans. I was planning to pickle/marinade them and store them in jars, but they've come out a little mushy and I'm not sure now that would work.

There's a couple of kilos of them now they've been cooked and I'm on my own, so I need to make something that'll keep!

Any ideas?

Stephen_Leak

As they've gone a bit mushy already, this one immediately springs to mind. It can be split into portions and frozen. I do it regularly.

REFRIED BEANS

These are only fried once. The name is due to a mis-translation. In Castilian Spanish and English, the prefix re- indicates that something is done more than once. However, in Mexican Spanish, the prefix re- indicates that something is done well. As this dish is Mexican, its name, frijoles refritos, is in Mexican Spanish and translates into English as "well-fried beans" and not "twice-fried beans".

Serves 2 - 3

INGREDIENTS

420g tin of baked beans
400g tin of red kidney beans
1 chilli pepper
1 onion
1 tablespoon of oil

FRESH CHILLI PEPPER WARNING!

When you chop up fresh chilli peppers be careful and avoid getting juice on your hands. If you touch your eyes, mouth or other ‘sensitive areas’, even an hour after chopping them, they will smart and burn. So wash your hands or wear rubber gloves.

METHOD

Open the tins of beans and drain off the water. Cut the top off the chilli pepper, cut it in half and scrape out the seeds, then chop it into pieces. Peel the onion and chop it into pieces.

Put the beans into a bowl. Add the chilli. Mix thoroughly.

If you have a food processor, put the beans and chilli in it and blend them to the desired consistency. If you have a hand blender, put the beans and chilli into a bowl and blend them to the desired consistency. If you don’t have a food processor or hand blender, put the beans and chilli into a bowl and use a potato masher or fork to mash them to the desired consistency. The desired consistency is like porridge or double cream. If required, add a little bit of water.

Put the oil into a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the onion. Fry the onion for about 5 minutes until it is soft. Stir frequently to stop them sticking.

Add the beans and chilli. Mix thoroughly. Fry for about 5 minutes. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Use dried beans, but these will need to be soaked and boiled first.

Use other beans, especially pinto beans, which are the authentic Mexican cowboy bean.

If you can’t find just one chilli pepper, use 1 teaspoon of chilli powder.

Add 2 rashers of bacon, chopped into 1cm (½ inch) pieces, or 50g of chorizo, sliced, at the same time as the onions.

Add 1 teaspoon of ground cumin. Cumin comes from Asia, but the Spanish brought it with them to the New World, where it is now widely used in Tex-Mex cuisine.

Add 2 teaspoons of parsley, which is reputed to reduce the wind generating capacity of beans.

TIPS

Let it cool and reheat it, as the flavour of chilli improves with reheating.

zippychick

Hi Spendthrift

Are they mushy beyond rescue? You can freeze them you know ? I would chuck them in a bag and use handfuls straight from the freezer to bulk out hot dishes.

I would use them in couscous salad, chuck into chillis/spag bol, soups, rice salad, make burgers, curries , there's so much you can do with them!

I typed up a whole load of links yesterday here in this thread which should be useful for you. You could try some in a veggie meatloaf - subbing some of the veg for beans? Well, i would try but wouldn't know if it would work!:rotfl:

I'll merge yours later with fave recipe using dried beans/peas/lentils

thanks
Zip

spend_thrift

Thank you both

I made a sausage and bean pot with some of them that was very tasty. I left out the paprika as I didn't have any, and it was still very nice. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3945/sausage-and-bean-pot

I've got about 400g left, so I'll try the refried beans recipe.

Hmmmm.... I'll be jet-propelled if I eat all this!