Red beans pressure cooked with green banana, potato, carrot and tomato. The green banana dissolves into the pot and thickens it, which is why Colombian beans have the texture they do.
The green banana is the thickener
Colombian beans have a texture that beans elsewhere do not, and it comes from an ingredient people outside the country rarely think to add.
Two green bananas, chopped small, go into the pot for the second half hour. They break down completely, and what they leave behind is a liquid that is thick and creamy without anything having been blended, mashed or thickened with flour.
It is the same trick as the green plantain in plantain soup, and it works for the same reason: the starch in unripe fruit behaves like a thickener when it is cooked long enough.
Guineo verde, not plátano verde
The third instruction used to say to add the plantains and the ingredient list asks for green bananas, and they are not the same thing.
Guineo verde is a green banana: the ordinary banana, picked unripe. It is smaller and softer than a plantain and it dissolves when cooked, which is the entire reason it is in the pot.
A green plantain is denser and starchier and it holds its shape. Put one in and you will get pieces of plantain in your beans and a thin liquid around them, which is a perfectly good soup but not what this is.
Soak them the night before
The first step is the one people skip and it costs the most.
Beans left overnight in room-temperature water take up a good deal of it before they ever see heat, and they cook faster and more evenly for it. Unsoaked beans can take twice as long, and the outsides break down while the middles are still hard.
Room temperature, not hot, and enough water that they stay covered as they swell.
Check the water before the second stage
The fourth instruction is easy to read past and it is the one that saves the pot.
Half an hour of pressure cooking reduces the water more than you expect, and beans left short of liquid stick to the bottom and scorch, which is a taste that goes through the entire pot and cannot be removed.
Look before you add the vegetables, top it up as needed, and let the pressure drop on its own at the end rather than forcing it.
More beans
- Cazuela de frijoles — where they end up.
- Ranchero beans — the version with meat in it.
- Colombian white rice — served alongside.
- Ripe plantain — the sweet part of the plate.
Colombian Beans FAQ
The green banana. It goes into the pot in pieces and dissolves completely during cooking, leaving the liquid thick and creamy without anything being blended or mashed. That texture is what people recognise.
No. Guineo verde is a green banana: smaller, softer, and it breaks down. A green plantain holds its shape and stays in pieces, so it will not thicken the pot.
It makes a real difference. Overnight in room-temperature water and they cook far faster and more evenly. Unsoaked beans can take twice as long and often stay hard in the middle.
Around an hour and a half in an ordinary pot to soften the beans, and then the second stage on top of that. The pressure cooker takes 30 minutes plus 30.
The water dropped during the first half hour and was not topped up. Check the level before the second stage, which is exactly what the fourth step tells you to do.
A Colombian bouillon cube, the same idea as Maggi. Either works, and so does any stock cube; half a cube is enough for this quantity.
Rice, fried meat and slices of ripe plantain, which together make the plate that most Colombian households eat several times a week.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ pound red beans (soaked overnight)
- 2 medium green bananas (guineo verde, chopped into small pieces)
- 2 medium potatoes (chopped into small pieces (optional))
- 2 sprigs of scallion or ½ medium onion (finely chopped)
- 1 medium tomato (finely chopped)
- ½ grated carrot
- 1 sprig of chopped cilantro
- ½ cube of Ricostilla or Maggi
- Salt to taste
Notas
- The green banana is what thickens the pot. It breaks down completely during the second half hour and leaves the liquid creamy without anything being blended or mashed, which is why Colombian beans have the texture they do.
- Guineo verde is a green banana, not a plantain. It is smaller, softer and it dissolves; a green plantain holds its shape and will not do the same job.
- You can stir in tomato sauce at the end, before serving, if you like.
- In an ordinary pot rather than a pressure cooker it takes much longer, around an hour and a half, to soften the beans.
Instructions
- Soak the beans overnight in water at room temperature. They take up water while they sit, and they cook far faster for it.
- Put the beans in a pressure cooker with enough water to cover them well and cook over medium-high heat for 30 minutes.
- Add the green banana, the potato if you are using it, the onion, tomato, carrot, cilantro, the bouillon cube and salt to taste.
- Check the water level first: it will have dropped during the first half hour, and beans left short of liquid catch on the bottom. Top it up as needed and cook over medium heat for another half hour.
- Let the pressure drop on its own before opening the pot.
- Serve with rice, fried meat and slices of ripe plantain.
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