Slow Cooker Cuban Black Beans

I have been on a decades long quest to find an easy, but authentic Cuban Black Bean recipe. I can find them in lots of local restaurants, but haven't been able to recreate them at home. In fact for the last 15 years I have resorted to buying them canned in the Ethnic Foods section of my grocery store. Finally, I have figured it out. I combined the How to Cook Any Dried Beans in Your Slow Cooker recipe I just pinned on Pinterest with my own version of the Cuban Black Bean recipe from Three Guys from Miami. Easy and delicious! I made these last night with rice and Slow Cooker Mojo Pork. Two slow-cookers...I know!!!! It was a perfect meal, but if you don't have two slow cookers you can make either the beans or the pork the day before. Puppy Daddy says they both taste better the next day!

The first step is to cook your black beans. So easy! Put 1 lb of dry black beans in your slow cooker with 6 cups of water. Do NOT add salt yet. It will keep your beans from getting nice and soft. Cook on high for 4 hours.  Done!

If you like a thicker consistency to your beans you can either take our some and put them in a blender, or use my technique that doesn't require dirtying another large piece of equipment. Just mash some of the beans right in the slow cooker with your potato masher. Next add the seasoning ingredients, onion, green pepper, garlic, bay leaf, oregano, cumin, white wine, white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Cook on low for at least another hour. If you're not ready to serve yet you can go a little longer on low, or turn the slow cooker to warm. The longer the beans simmer in the seasonings, the better they taste! Serve over rice and top with more onion if you like!

 

Ingredients

1 lb dry black beans

6 cups water

1 medium- large onion - diced

1 green pepper - diced

3 cloves of garlic - crushed

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

1 1/2 TB vinegar

1/4 cup  dry white wine

1 TB olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

 

Directions

Put dry beans and water in slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours or until beans are soft. If you want to thicken the consistency of the beans, mash some up in the slow cooker with a potato masher. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for one hour. Serve alone or over rice. Garnish with onion.

 

Whadya think?