Frijoles de Olla (Beans From the Pot)

Recipe by: Leslie Brenner

One of the simplest dishes in the world, Frijoles de Olla is also one of my favorites. How simple is it? It’s just dried Mexican beans (pintos, bayos, frijoles negros, or mayocobas, flor de mayo, canarios, etc.) simmered in water with nothing more than a little onion and garlic. Salt gets stirred in at the end.

It makes a great side dish for many Mexican and Tex-Mex specialties, but if you’re a bean-lover, it’s wonderful even by itself. And it’s vegan. I like to garnish a bowl of it, served with some of its soupy cooking liquid, with chopped cilantro and white onion. It’s also easy to turn it into a soup — sauté some onion till tender and translucent, add frijoles de olla with its liquid and some diced tomato (either canned or fresh), simmer fifteen minutes or so, and it’s soup. Toss some chopped cilantro in at the end, if you like.

Finally, if you want to make Frijoles Refritos (Refried Beans), F…