I first tasted this treat at a Cuban restaurant in The City, it was next door to a used book store I found while wonderin' around. The taste of them beans lingered with me for years. Long after I had forgotten the name of the restaurant, bookstore or even what street they were on, I decided to recreate the taste. They've been a bi-weekly staple of my diet for about 15 years now One of my favorite foods, I guess you could say.
They've got that South of the border flavor of cumin, chilies, good mexican oregano and that salty/smoky down home flavor of good southern Navy beans and Ham hocks my dad used to make.
My search for well cured & smoked ham shanks here met with nothing but frustration and disappointment. That is, until I found these German smoked pork chop things called Kasseler (sp?) Not quite Ham shanks but they do OK.
First thing you gotta do is get some black beans:
Big Question I guess is; "To Soak On Not Soak"
Answer Saok if you remember or have the time other wise drop em in already boiling water, cover shut it off for an hour or so change the water and cook 'em up. Or rinse and cook if really want to. I've had beans prepared each way and cookig times vary But times tend to vary anyway. I made this batch one time that never got beyond hard as hell and I cooked 'em for two fuckin days!
These are the black beans you'll find in Lotus or any Thai super market for 15 - 20 baht per 500 gr bag. They usually cook up nice, stay firm over a few days reheating.
Rinse the beans in cool water pick out any stones or unrecognizable bits put them in a big pot and cover with about tweo inches water, put a lid on 'em and come back tomorrow.
They should be nice and swollen and near the top of the waterline, plus or minus. Drain the purplish looking water out and add enough water to cover the beans; again to that two or three inch margin. Put on a high flame and gt 'em boiling, once they are gurglin and rolling bring that down to a fast simmer:
Now. Salt. Lot of folks add salt to the water they wanna boil things in. With these beans the skins already a bit tough and adding salt righ off the bat tends to toughen 'em up even more, extending your cooking time. Anyway we're gonna add some salt cured pork and a few other things and it's always best to leave the salt & pepper till last. Just water, beans, heat & time is all you really need.
Let that go for about half hour - hour check it every 10-20 minutes or so make sure there's plenty of water.
After the beans have been cooking for a while you can assemble the few other things you're gonna need, not much really:
Just some chopped chillies, as many as you can stand The flavor of the green chillies really shines through with this meal, the beans should be spicy To your tastes. Ff your not a big fan of heat try a Jalapeno or two they've much less heatbut plenty of flavor. If you want to try Anchos ok, just don;t fuckin tell me about it. Bell peppers? Fuck that. I think there's about ten of fifteen fresh prik kii nuu under there.
In the Bowl there is Cumin, Oregano and some ground dry chili. The dried red chili has a different flavor a bit more heat, optional if you're some kinda sissy. Plenty of cumin, I buy whole seed and grind a bit every week or so. The oregano here is not so good as the fresh mexican I'd get back home but there's a passable cheap brand sold in cello bags in most supermarkets here, Rub it between your hands as you drop it in the pot.
Two of those Kasseler chops at about 100 - 120 gr ea. (get the ones with the bone in, they are fairly lean but look for some of the fattier ones if you can even find 'em Nox if you can fid decent cured & smoke ham shanks Get one have your butcher saw in about 1" (2.5 - 3cm) slices. you can throw it whole as well but better sliced let the water extract all the flavor it can from the bone, the marrow, etc. up top there is one large yellow onion coarsely chopped.
Once the beans are taking on water well and they are no longer crunchy But still too tough to eat drop them chops/shanks add the spices stir it all under. Now let that cook checking water level every 20 - 30 minutes. The cookng time should be about another hour or two.
I don;t measure ingredients, I don;t count minutes. Check the beans. Take one between your teeth, munch it. Ready to eat? Their done then. If not? They're not.
I have had different times with beans depends on age, sub-specie, sun spots, fuck, I don't know. I just know this is not something you set a timer for.
Check the state of the meat while it cooks as well; poke it, prod it 'til starts fallin apart easy like.
When the beans are just about ready to eat (These beans should be al dente when you eat 'em) drop in that onion, let 'em cook another 10 - 20 minutes.
There should be plenty of soup with these beans, if you've been keepin the water Like I'm tellin ya then there will be. Test it for flavor. You can adjust with some pork or chicken Rot dii (or bullion/powdered ham stock is ideal) if you think it needs it. Adding a light touch of salt will bring a lot of flavor through and I have found that with the two chops like this the flavor really doesn't need much supplementation. Always when cooking though don;t fuckin' listen to the recipe; listen to your taste buds. TASTE IT!
If your smart, the ol' lady's been cookin' rice so fill yer bowl with a couple healthy scoops of nice jasmine rice and ladle them beans and plenty of soup over. Chop some fresh cilantro (corriander leaf, Pak chee) and toss a generous handful on top. Man! That's eatin:
Dig in mix 'em up and enjoy
Little cheese wouldn't hurt. Some folks use sour cream but that fresh cheese with the same consistency (queso something, having a brain fart here.) is what you really want. personally, I like 'em just like this.