Help, how to cook pinto beans for Frijoli refritas

[Ribenapigeon]

I love refried beans but balk at paying £1:50 a tin for the old el paso brand in the supermarket. So ive been trying to make my own using dry pinto beans. I soak them overnight in unsalted water then cook them with sone finely chopped onion. The problem is they never seem to soften. Ive tried cooking them for hours, with and without salt and still i cant seem to get the beans to soften. Ive also tried using tinned beans and that works fine but the only stockist of the tinned variety is Asda and their £0:60 a tin. Im considering trying a pressure cooker but dont want to buy one just on an offchance that will work.

Any ideas? Anyone successfully made refried beans from dry beans?

Cheers

[stinkwheel]

Not done refried beans but can confirm a pressure cooker is an ideal way of cooking dried pulses quickly and effectively. Been doing a lot of pressure cooking lately because Mrs stinkwheel is on a save the planet drive and it does 4 hours worth of simmering in about half an hour on the lowest gas setting and the dried pulses are both cheaper and have a lower transport footprint (and are tastier varieties, they select tough skinned varieties for the canning process). Makes a cracking channa masala.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Ribenapigeon]

[WD Forte]

https://vegfaqs.com/beans-wont-soften/

Incidentally
what them muricans call baking soda is what we call Bi-carbonate of soda.
what we call Baking soda is a mixture Bi-carb and Cream of tartar
Alkaline and acid powders which when moisture is added release CO2
to make stuff rise
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bikers smell of wee

[Ribenapigeon]

Ill try the baking soda thing and report back

[hellkat]

[stinkwheel]

[hellkat]

I understood all that. Thank you
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[hellkat]

[Ribenapigeon]

Ive just remembered I use bicarbonate of soda when soaking peas overnight prior to mushy peas manufacture. Dohhh

[Ribenapigeon]

[stinkwheel]

[hellkat]

I may have to experiment with this mushy peas thingie. The senior consort has taken to treating me to a fish supper now and then, and it does include this rather questionable item.

Might try my hand at making them a few times and then inflict it upon him on some weekend in the very near future
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Ribenapigeon]

[WD Forte]

[Keithy]

[ThunderGuts]

Late to this one, but we always make our own refried beans for the very reason the OP is interested; it's much much cheaper!

So, this is what I do (and yes, you will need a pressure cooker - possible to do without, but you'll be there for hours - buy one anyway, they're fantastic and much underrated):

500g bag of dried pinto beans, empty into the pressure cooker and rinse with water, then add in boiling water plus enough to go a few inches above the beans. A few tablespoons of oil (helps stop frothing while boiling) then cook on high pressure for 25 minutes (this will be a very low hob setting once it's up to pressure). Release pressure and check the beans - they should be very easy to squash against the side of the pan, softer than baked beans. If not, lid back on and pressure cook for another 5-10 minutes and check again. I find pulses can vary from batch to batch so the cooking time can change.

Once cooked, leave to one side and in a large pan (big enough to contain the beans) heat up some sunflower oil, then add in 5 whole but peeled garlic cloves. Fry until they're golden all over, then mash into the oil with the back of a spoon. Add in 2 tsp of ground cumin, 1 tsp chilli powder and fry for 30 seconds, then start adding the beans in with a slotted spoon (don't worry about some liquid being carried over). Once they're all in, start breaking them up with a spoon - if they're well cooked, this should happen fairly naturally with stirring. Add in the remaining liquid as necessary to get consistency you want, then season with salt to taste. Bingo!

Tip: like most cooked pulses than have been mashed, they will thicken substantially the first time they cool (never understood why this happens though), so keep some of the liquid aside so you can add a bit in if you are keeping some mix back. This will make the equivalent of 3-4 tins of refried beans; I freeze it in plastic takeaway trays and defrost in the microwave when I want to use them.

Edit: should note that if you're buying a pressure cooker, volumes are misleading. They're quoted as a 6 litre, but that's the brim capacity and you should never cook pulses more than a 1/3 of the way up the cooker (to allow headspace for foam/expansion as you don't want the valve blocking!). So always go a bit bigger than you want. We have a 6 litre and it's a good size.
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TG.

[Ribenapigeon]

There's a guy who knows his beans!

My pot method is to keep it as simple as possible. I sweat down finely chopped onion in a good glug of olive oil and a couple of garlic cloves with ground pepper, about 1 small onion to a tins worth of bean. Then add the beans with a level teaspoon of smoked paprika and stir/mash until a satisfying consistancy, salt to taste. In the past ive cooked down the onion in bacon fat which is great but i dont eat bacon any more so hence the smoked paprika which works just as well.

This guy is good for all things Tex-mex, though how he isn't the size of a house i dont know.

https://youtu.be/iC5mR5s70bE

[ThunderGuts]

Never add salt until the end if cooking dried pulses as it inhibits their cooking. Tinned pulses frequently have a firming agent in them to stop them from disintegrating in the tin, great for consumers who want a tin of whole beans, but again it makes cooking them down harder.

We cook quite a lot of pulses (particularly for Indian food) and dried with a pressure cooker is definitely the way to go. Dried pulses are generally much cheaper and with a pressure cooker aren't much hassle to cook really. Red lentils into dal; 15-20 minutes. Pinto beans 25-35 minutes. Chickpeas 20 minutes. Etc. etc., plus you can use a pressure cooker for other stuff, so ours (Prestige Smartplus) came with a trivet and steaming basket, so things like beetroot can be cooked easily too. They're also a good heavy duty pan for other uses as they will have a heavy bottom and solid construction, so useful for cooking larger batches of anything (we make our own stock sometimes and use it for that). About £60 I think and they'll last forever. Use less energy too, the hob will be on lower than with a normal saucepan and cooking times are around a third of normal.
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TG.

[WD Forte]

On a related note.

I like lentils too and have bags of red and green types, but last time
I cooked red lentils they foamed up like crazy!
foamy scum crept out all over the cooker top
Also they ended up a very pale yellow 'slosh'.
did I over cook them?

Incidentally, never ever had a pressure cooker, but now seriously
considering getting one
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bikers smell of wee

[stinkwheel]

You need to wash your lentils before cooking. Also bring them up to the boil and skim the scum off the top. Frothy scum is a normal feature of cooking red lentils in particular.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[ThunderGuts]

Plus a tablespoon of oil helps reduce foaming.
____________________
TG.

[ThunderGuts]

[hellkat]

[stinkwheel]