One of the most traditional comfort foods out there has got to be a classic bean stew. Throughout many countries, especially Spain, a good bean stew is one of the healthiest homemade recipes passed down from generation to generation in every family. Stews are eaten best on cold or rainy days when you need to curl up with a comforting bowl of goodness most.
Our chef, Jesús Morillo, has decided to show us how he prepares a pinto bean soup. This delicious, hearty and healthy dish is full of flavour and not to mention, it’s extremely easy to make. For this one-pot meal, all you need are a few fresh ingredients, a good pot and you’re good to go!
Ingredients
1 Kilo of dry pinto beans
1 Onion
1 Head of garlic
½ Green pepper
½ Red pepper
2 Medium-sized potatoes
1 Bay leaf
1 Pinch of cumin
1 Tsp of paprika
Salt
Instructions To Make a Pinto Bean Stew
The first step to make your stew is to place the pinto beans in a bowl and soak them in water about a day in advance. This is necessary as your dry beans will need to rehydrate.
Once they are rehydrated, it’s time to get to work. Drain the beans from the water and place them in your cooking pot and, once again, cover with water.
Now you will need to prepare the vegetables, this process is quite easy as you won’t need to do much chopping. For the onion and head of garlic, all you need to do is peal them, however make sure to not remove any garlic cloves from the head. Both of these will be added whole into the pot.
For your peppers, remove the stem and cut your green and red pepper in half, without chopping them further. Next, chop the potatoes into large pieces.
Now that you have all of your vegetables ready, it’s time to add them into the pot with the beans and water. Wash your vegetables and place them into the pot. Once you have all of your ingredients, add the bay leaf, a pinch of cumin, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and salt, to taste. After, heat until boiling.
Once your pot is boiling, take a slotted spoon and remove any excess foam or pieces of bean. Once that is done, add in a tsp of paprika. If it were added beforehand, the taste would have been removed with the excess ingredients.
The only thing left is to wait until the beans are cooked and the stew has a good consistency. Then, spoon up a bowl of this delicious dish.
Cooking Variations
There are as many variations when it comes to cooking this dish as there are families that cook it. Don’t be afraid to adjust the recipe a little and add your personal touch to this traditional dish.
In our recipe, we have only added vegetables and legumes, but many people add in a whole Spanish chorizo to give this dish an even more savoury flavour. Some might prefer to not add it in to keep their stew from the grease given off from the chorizo, the trick is to cook the chorizo separately and add it to the dish once it’s all ready. This way the fat is not transferred to the rest of the dish and it doesn’t lose any of its flavour and the chorizo itself is already quite tasty.
It is also very common to add some rice to the stew, you just have to control the cooking time of the beans, as it is different from the rice. Once the beans are tender, it is time to add the rice and cook until ready.
