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- ⏲️ Prep time: a night and 10 min
- 🍳 Cook time: 45 - 60 min
- 🍽️ Servings: 6 - 8
Ingredients
- 1 lb (454g) dried small (Mexican) red beans
- 1 red onion
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 stalks celery (plus celery leaves for garnish)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 smoked ham hock (or smoked turkey leg, or spoonful of smoked paprika)
- paprika
- garlic powder
- cumin
- oregano
- dried sage
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
- sugar
- vinegar
- hot sauce for garnish
- cooked rice to eat it with
Directions
Soak the beans in enough water to keep them submerged as they double in size overnight. i recommend 15g of salt per liter of soak water, but plain water is fine too.)
The next day drain it out and rinse the beans clean.
Cut the onion, pepper and celery stalks into a medium dice, and put them in a big pot with a little olive oil. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly, until they seem at least halfway cooked. Stir in the tomato paste, then quickly add in the beans and enough water to cover everything before the paste burns. Drop in the ham hock.
Reduce the heat to a low boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans taste done. At any point in the process, season to taste with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, cumin, oregano and sage. At the very end, stir in a very small pinch of sugar and a tiny splash of vinegar (not traditional but very good).
Serve the beans alongside rice, garnish with celery leaves, and drown in hot sauce. You can try to eat some meat off of the ham hock, but keep in mind it was chiefly for flavoring the beans.