Frijoles Rancheros (Colombian Ranchero Beans)

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Beans soaked overnight and then cooked with smoked sausage, green plantain and a base of onion, tomato and garlic. The plantain goes in chopped small and dissolves, which is what thickens the pot. Serves five.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Soaking8

Total Time8 30

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: rancheros beans

Servings:

Calories: 404kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

Ingredients

400 g beans of your choice soaked overnight; cargamanto or cranberry beans are the Colombian ones
2 green plantains chopped very small so they break down into the broth
½ cup onion, finely chopped
½ cup tomato, diced
1 cup smoked sausages fried first and added later, so they keep their texture
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons oil
1 carrot, grated
½ tablespoon ají the Colombian table sauce, not chilli powder
Salt and black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Soak the beans in water overnight.
The next day, fry the sausage in a pan with a little oil. Once done, take it out and set it aside.
In the same pan, fry the finely chopped onion and garlic together with the diced tomato until softened.
Put the beans and their soaking water into a pot and bring them to the boil, then let them cook until they start to soften.
Add the sausages, half of the fried base, the green plantains chopped very small, and the grated carrot. Cover and cook.
Uncover the pot, turn the heat to medium-low, add the other half of the base and the ají, and leave it uncovered so the broth reduces and thickens.
Check the salt and pepper, and serve with white rice.

Notes

Cooking the beans in their soaking water is deliberate: some of the starch has already leached into it and it helps thicken the pot. The base goes in twice, half early and half late, so that some of it dissolves into the broth and some stays recognisable. Green plantain is not a garnish here, it is the thickener, which is why it goes in chopped small rather than in chunks. Without a pressure cooker, soaked beans take about an hour and a half rather than the twenty minutes the recipe assumes.

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