What a treat to have some Peruano Beans back in the house!
Somehow it’s been close to a year since I’ve made these, but if you’re new to them please don’t wait that long!
Peruano beans have been one of my favorite kitchen discoveries — you can use them anytime Black or Pinto are called for, and you might even get to a point where you prefer them over other varieties 🙂
How To Make A Quick Batch Of Peruano Beans
You’ll also see these referred to as Canary or Mayocoba beans. Their distinct yellowish color is the quickest way to identify them.
Here’s how they look next to Black and Pinto in dried form:
So why bother at all with these harder-to-find beans?
Their flavor!
They have a creamy, buttery flavor, and I am more likely to eat them “plain” compared to other beans, i.e. with minimal additional flavoring.
They also make incredible refried beans and that is all the reason I need to make a batch 🙂
Start by rifling through 2 cups of the Peruano beans, removing any stones or stragglers. Then give ’em a good rinse.
Add them to a pot along with a roughly chopped onion and 2-3 tablespoons of FAT.
Yes, fat! This will make your pot beans considerably more savory. Lard is traditionally used, but bacon drippings will work just as well so that’s what I used for this batch. How to render your own lard.
Add 2-3 quarts of cold water, or enough to cover the beans by a couple inches.
Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and let ’em cook!
I usually check on them at the 90 minute mark. If they’re still hard or grainy they need to cook a bit longer.
Once they’re soft and mushy you can add the salt. Add a heaping teaspoon of salt and let the beans cook for another 10-15 minutes.
And then take a final taste for seasoning.
If you want them to be savory out of the pot you’ll need somewhere between 2-3 teaspoons salt for 2 cups of dried beans.
I usually add the last bit incrementally, doing plenty of taste testing along the way. For this batch I probably used 2.5 teaspoons total. But note that you are welcome to use less salt if you have other plans for the beans.
You’ll typically get 3 cups of cooked beans from a single cup of dried beans.
So this batch made 6 cups of cooked beans and had plenty of broth leftover. I stored them in quart-sized jars — so that’s 3 cups of beans and 1 cup broth in each of these jars.
They freeze well, so I put one of those jars in the freezer and the other in the fridge.
I will sometimes portion them out into individual baggies with 1 cup of beans inside — this can make it easier to pull a smaller portion from the freezer.
So now what?!
Make some refried beans! Cook off some finely chopped onion in some lard or butter, then add a single cup of cooked Peruano beans and a bit of broth. Simmer over medium heat and then give ’em a smoosh with a spatula.
These simple refried beans will give you the full Peruano experience 🙂
But first things first, you’ll need to make a Quick Batch of Peruano Beans! Keep an eye out for these beauties in your local markets, with Amazon being a good backup.
Enjoy!
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