Oaxacan Black Bean Bowl
Oaxacan Black Bean Bowl
Ingredients
- 4 medium red onion (2=pickled onion, 2=beans)
- 1-2 teaspoons salt
- 1-2 teaspoons sumac (optional)
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (2 = beans, 1 = poblano)
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 10-12 leaves epazote
- 5 cans black beans
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 chipotles in adobo sauce (~half small can)
- 2 dried hoja santa leaves
- 2 teaspoons salt, more to taste
- 6 large pablano peppers
- 1-2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 8 ounces Oaxacan cheese or Mozzarella cheese ball
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 recipe Pibil Hot Sauce https://sugar-splice.compibil-hot-sauce/
- 1 recipe Rick Bayless's Tomatillo Salsa https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/raw-tomatillo-salsa/
- 2 cups shredded red cabbage
- 1/2 fresh sliced avocado per serving
- cooked rice for serving
Instructions
- The day before or first thing, slice two red onions as thin as possible in semi circles. Combine in non-reactive bowl with the salt, lemon juice, and sumac. Mix periodically. Keep in the fridge with a tight lid.
- Dice the other two onions and pre-heat a large pot on medium-low heat with the olive oil. Saute the onion until translucent. Add the garlic, oregano, and cumin.
- While cooking the aromatics, prepare the herbs: the fresh epazote and dried hoja santa. Rinse the epazote and chiffon like basil, add to the pot of aromatics. We buy large packs of epazote at a latin grocer, wash and freeze in small bags. Take the dried hoja santa and carefully rinse, then briefly set on your cutting board. Take one can of beans, drain (rinse if you prefer), and add half the can to the pot. Add a few tablespoons of water to the remaining half can of beans, crumble in your hoja santa, picking around the stiff stems/large veins. Add your chipotles. One of my best discoveries has been that my stick blender fits in a can. Blend the can of flavor allllll together! Add to pot and stir.
- Open and drain your remaining cans of black beans and mix in. Add the two teaspoons of salt, mix, taste, and add more salt to taste. Turn down to low and stir every 4-5 minutes while you prepare the cheater Chile Relleno.
- I hate frying, so I prefer do what I've dubbed the "cheater" Chile Rellano. Turn the oven top broiler on high and line a rimmed sheet pan with foil. Carefully cut a slit down one thin side of each Poblano chile, so that it lays on either flatter side without the slit facing down. Clean out the seeds and as much of the veins as easily reached. Sprinkle inside with cumin and salt. Cut cheese into 6 equal slices and stuff in the peppers. Rub outsides with 1 tablespoon olive oil and place under broiler. When the first side just starts to get black spots, flip with tongs and broil second side.
- Chop the red cabbage and prepare your avocado. Grab your cooked rice, pickled onion, and condiments. Slice up the cheater Chile Relleno once cool enough to handle. Assemble your bowls!!
First off- clickable hyperlinks that I wasn't able to include in the recipe card due to the version of WordPress I currently use:
Pibil Hot Sauce
Rick Bayless's Tomatillo Salsa
Beans and rice. Legumes and starch.
Almost every culture has a dish around this theme, and for good reason! It's a crowd-pleaser, it fills you up, it's a complete protein, and it's cheap.
This bowl has creaminess, staying power, citrus kick, crunch, and cheese for good measure and may become a new favorite in your kitchen!
I won't lie, all the components do take some time to put together. If you're making both my Pibil Hot Sauce and Rick Bayless's Salsa, I would do those two condiments and the pickled onion the day before you plan on having the meal. Pickled onion only gets better as it sits in the fridge anyway.
Oaxaca (oh-hawk-uh): this region of Mexico may not be one you were able to list, but I encourage you to look up the delicious cuisine! I was hooked trying to find where the subtle herbal flavors from a black bean taco I had at the excellent Oyamel by chef Jose Andres in DC (my current playground). The Mezcal is pretty worth it too, but oh boy, those tacos!
After contemplating other dishes on the menu and figuring out that Oyamel had a lot of influence in particular from the Oaxacan region, I went on a wild goose chase for the commonly used ingredients. I landed at this recipe, which is largely the basis for my own beans- but I do throw in a couple other ingredients, simplify the hard to find Latin herbs, and just start with regular canned black beans as my local grocery store doesn't have refried black beans. Then, I just kept playing with toppings, and by chance tried it with my leftover Pibil sauce one meal and now that's a must every time we have this.
What makes this even more exciting is how easy it would be to adapt for vegan dining. Use a different fat/oil in my Pibil Hot Sauce and leave out the cheese in my cheater Child Rellanos. It's already gluten free and vegetarian as is! It makes a mouth-watering packable lunch if you separate the sauces, cabbage, and avocado until after heating the rice, beans, and poblano pepper.
1.The day before or first thing, slice two red onions as thin as possible in semi circles. Combine in non-reactive bowl with the salt, lemon juice, and sumac. Mix periodically. Keep in the fridge with a tight lid.
2. Dice the other two onions and pre-heat a large pot on medium-low heat with the olive oil. Saute the onion until translucent. Add the garlic, oregano, and cumin.
3. While cooking the aromatics, prepare the latin herbs: the fresh epazote and dried hoja santa. Rinse the epazote and chiffon like basil, add to the pot of aromatics. We buy large packs of epazote at a latin grocer, wash and freeze in small bags. Take the dried hoja santa and carefully rinse, momentarily set down. Take one can of beans, drain (rinse if you prefer), add half the can to the pot. Add a few tablespoons of water to the remaining half can of beans, crumble in your hoja santa, picking around the stiff stems/large veins. Add your chipotles. One of my best discoveries has been that my stick blender fits in a can. Blend the can of flavor allllll together! Add to the pot.
4. Open and drain your remaining cans of black beans and mix in. Add the two teaspoons of salt, mix, taste, and add more salt to taste. Turn down to low and stir every 4-5 minutes while you prepare the cheater Chile Relleno.
5. I hate frying, so I prefer do what I've dubbed the "cheater" Chile Rellano. Turn the oven top broiler on high and line a rimmed sheet pan with foil. Carefully cut a slit down one thin side of each Poblano chile, so that it lays on either flatter side without the slit facing down. Clean out the seeds and as much of the veins as easily reached. Sprinkle inside with cumin and salt. Cut cheese into 6 equal slices and stuff in the peppers. Rub with 1 tablespoon olive oil and place under broiler. When the first side just starts to get black spots, flip with tongs and broil second side.
6. Chop the red cabbage and prepare your avocado. Grab your cooked rice, pickled onion, and condiments. Slice up the cheater Chile Relleno once cool enough to handle. Assemble your bowls!!
