A few days back, my mother bought this "Mexican Recipes" book, quite frankly I thought it would be a lame book to have. But as soon as I began reading and browsing through the recipes I realized it was a great book. It had a lot of the recipes I like and those I've always thought to be of a champions league... like Pozole or Chiles en Nogada even Cochinita Pibil.
So after falling in love with the endless recipes and different types of cuisine I decided to try at least one.
There is a small place near my house, probably one of the only places where I actually eat meat. As you wait for your food they give you Charro Beans (free of charge n.n) and they are heavenly.
So it was probably one of the main reasons why I decided to try out this recipe in the first place.
Even though I live in Mexico, I will admit I hardly know anything about our very extent and infinite varieties of cooking that have originated here.
The small things I know, I owe to my grandma (who has this way of cooking that is simply divine) and I will admit that I was very much impressed with all the recipes the book my mom bought held.
I know that Mexican food outside Mexico sucks and even when people attempt to do it, they end up with this seriously sick and awful version of our dishes (I am talking tacobell) so I take it as a personal challenge to show typical Mexican recipes every once in a while, just to set people straight for once.
(I don't mean any disrespect though) This is Mexican cooking according to a Mexican recipe book by a Mexican chef done by me a 100% Mexican gal.
Frijoles Charros
a.k.a
Charro beans.
250g of beans.
(You can use any type of beans you want, I used Pinto beans)
Beacon.
(I used three stripes)
1/4 of an Onion, chopped.
2 Tomatoes, chopped.
I clove of Garlic, thinly chopped.
Olive Oil.
1 Chile, chopped.
1 teaspoon of Salsa Chipotle (optional)
Salt&&Pepper.
(I decided to ignore the Chorizo the recipe calls for, because I am not into it, but by all means if you like it, do add it)
Work that magic:
1. First you need to cook the beans. And in order to have very good beans it's a good idea to leave inside a pot with water overnight. When you cook the beans be sure to add one clove of garlic, a small piece of an onion and a tomato, this will add flavor to beans instead of dealing with plain watery tasting beans.
2. Once you've cooked your beans, taste, season and then set aside... you'll want to chop the beacon.
Now, in a previously hot skillet, drizzle some olive oil on it and add the beacon. Let it fry there for a while until the beacon realizes its fat (sounds disgusting but I swear it's delicious).
(If you decide to use the Chorizo this is where you add it)
2. Once the beacon in reaching a goldish color add the onion, tomatoes and garlic and fry them for a while.
You want them veggies to be very soft before following the next step.
3. Season with Salt&&Pepper, add the Chile and the Chipotle Salsa and add this beautiful, colorful mixture into the pot where you cooked the beans (at this point you can either transfer the beans and the mixture to a different deep pan). Give it a nice shake so that all the ingredients come together.
And by all means, serve.
