Painless (and fat free) Refried Beans

OK - I know for a fact that both my "p-town" cousin and I have been accused of making meals/food into a needlessly grandiose affair.  If I could count the times we've heard the phrase, "let's just keep it simple"...    For some reason she and I rejoice in not keeping it simple (sometimes).   This is not one of those times.

It's just beans, right?   How hard can it be to duplicate even the store-bought canned variety, not to mention a restaurant-quality result.   After much experimentation, and even a stint with Keith's pressure cooker that wasn't pretty, I was ready to concede defeat.  Thanks to my SIL Tracie for forwarding this recipe to me...it truly is the best one I've found for refried beans that don't come out dry or chunky.....and the best part is that no pre-soaking is required. Side note: I am firmly in the camp that believes there are nutritional benefits to pre-soaking any grain/bean, but sometimes reality gets in the way, and you want to be able to carry out a (relatively) spur of the moment idea.  (yes, I realize that 6-8 hours in the crock pot can hardly be considered "spur of the moment", however it is doable in the same day, which to me makes a difference)

This recipe couldn't be any simpler.....really.   Beans, water, aromatics, spices, crock pot, and 6-8 hours.

Variations:   

*  clearly - I used black beans here instead of pinto.  I can only assume that any bean you'd want to have in a refried consistency would work.   Even chickpeas for hummus.

*  directions say to mash (which I did this time), but could easily be done with a food processor, or even a stick blender if you left enough cooking liquid.

Painless (and fat-free) Refried Beans
from allrecipes.com


Ingredients

• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed
• 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 5 teaspoons salt
• 1 3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin, optional
• 9 cups water

Directions

1. Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.
2. Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.