Wonderful things, beans. People often love them or hate them. FR and I are in the former category but the children are in the latter. This means that we don't eat them as often as we (parents) would like. And we'd like to eat them for reasons as varied as the types of beans themselves.
They are healthy.
They are
They
They contain protein, iron, fibre and complex carbohydrates.
(They have side effects too, as we all know, but that shouldn't put kids off, should it?)
I really wish my children would eat beans but as yet, all my attempts have failed to encourage them - I hope that one day, their father's genes will out and they'll get the taste.
FR adores beans - frejoles - so today, I made some, just for him and me. And he has been raving about them since lunch time. They are, so he says, the best frejoles he has ever had. And he's had some good ones. Praise indeed.
All that's needed is some beans - any type - left to soak overnight. Change the water for fresh and make sure there's enough to cover the beans by an inch (or a couple of centimetres). Put to boil with a little salt - even better, put a bay leaf in with it as well.
Meanwhile, chop an onion, a big clove of garlic, a green or red pepper (whichever you might have) and fry gently in a good glug of olive oil.
When softened, add a good tablespoonful of hot paprika - and then add a bit more, go on, be brave! Stir that in then add a small tablespoonful of flour, together with a couple of spoonfuls of the water from the beans, which will be hot, if not boiling by now. Stir well and put the lot into the beans pot. At this point, if you have a piece of chorizo (we always have chorizo in the kitchen), throw that in too - it's not essential but it helps.
I use my pressure cooker to speed things up - around an hour or so - but if you don't use a pressure cooker, just boil for about 20 minutes then reduce the heat a bit and continue cooking til the beans are soft and the sauce is rich and thick - probably about 2 hours
The only thing I am worried about is that FR has over-indulged in the eating of these beans - and definitely without due care and attention to the likely after-effects.
I may not blog about those - in fact, I promise I won't!
I love the title of your post! We love beans. haha. One of my fav memories is when I'd stand at the sink and sort through a bag of beans for my mom as a kid and carefully sort away the bad ones and bits of whaever shouldn't be there operating on the philosophy that "one bad bean can ruin the whole pot." Hmmm, considering the "effects" of beans, why haven't beans been looked into as a possible more economical fuel source for cars?
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