Thursday, May 13, 2010

Tortillas in Black Bean Sauce


We love many things at Picante, but our favorite brunch item hands-down is the enfrijoladas, a homey dish made of their handmade tortillas smothered in black bean sauce and drizzled with crema. We decided to attempt enfrijoladas using our new favorite Cook's Illustrated method for cooking beans: brining them overnight in salt water. The brining allows salt flavor to fully penetrate the beans, leaving them tender and delicious. Throwing the beans into the slow-cooker once they've been brined saves active cooking time and develops a rich sauce.

3 tablespoons table salt
2 cups dried black beans, picked over and washed
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
3 cups vegetable stock
10 corn tortillas

For toppings:
wedges of lime
chopped cilantro
fire-roasted chiles or salsa
crumbled queso fresco or cotija

First, stir the salt in 4 quarts (16 cups) cold water in the slow-cooker vessel and add the beans. Let the beans soak overnight, at least 8 hours. In the morning, drain beans, rinse well, and return to the slow-cooker with the cumin, butter, garlic, stock and 5 cups water. Cook on low heat for 8 hours.

Puree the beans and their liquid in small batches in a blender. Warm the tortillas in a dry skillet or in the microwave. Douse the tortillas well with black bean sauce and fold into quarters. Serve immediately, topped with lime, cilantro, spicy stuff, and cheese.

If you're saving any to eat later, wait to add the sauce until just before serving.

10 comments:

Amy B. said...

At first I thought it was some sort of chocolate, haha! I was thinking that's really a tempting dessert! But it was black bean. Not like it's not any good, but it got me a bit excited..haha

Tortillas in black bean sauce. This is something I definitely haven't tried yet. I might give this a try. It looks actually good in the photo, so why not? :-)

Thanks for sharing! If you don't mind I would like to share this as well and guide Foodista readers to this post.Just add the foodista widget for black bean to the end of this post and it's all set, Thanks and keep on posting! :-)

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Dinetonite said...

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Sammie said...

I, too, had chocolate on the brain when I saw this dish but even though it isn't and it's black bean sauce- it still looks delicious!

Toni said...

What an interesting combo of flavors! I also thought it looked a little like chocolate!

Get Skinny, Go Vegan. said...

That looks amazing!!!!
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Shaheen said...

My first impression was that it was coated in luscious chocolate then I noted the title - oh yum - i love black beans.

kale recipes said...

Hey, love some of the recipes you have, specifically the black bean sauce... I once made black bean brownies!! lol would love if you check out my kale recipes blog

Christine Eubanks said...

"If you're saving any to eat later, wait to add the sauce until just before serving."

YOu mean much better if we eat it while it's warm?

Regards,
Jamie Andersons
Fermented Foods List

I Heart Kale said...

Hi Jamie,

You don't want the tortillas to get soggy, which they will if you sauce them too far in advance of eating them. So if you have leftover black bean sauce (or if you're making it ahead of time), store it separately and then warm and douse tortillas just prior to eating.