From the American Southwest

Guacamole

To make guacamole without buying one of those expensive spice packets, try the following with 2 large, ripe avocados.

  1 tsp finely ground cumin
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
pinch ground red pepper
pinch ground black pepper

Also, making the guacamole, add 3 tbsp finely chopped onion and 1 small finely chopped tomato, a splash of lime juice and salt to taste. Don’t mash the avocado totally into paste, but leave some serious chunks in it.

My Favorite, Gut-bursting Mexican Meal

                   

From South America and the Caribbian

Cooking Beans

Here are some tips on (dry) beans. Always sort through beans removing rocks and other litter. Wash them just as you would rice.

This is for one pound of beans, or about 2½ cups. You need a lot of water, as much as 6-9 cups of water per 1 cup of beans.

Long-soak method

Cover them with water in a vessle in the refrigerator. Leave overnight. If not cooking right away, then drain water and store in refrigerator.

Quick-soak method

Put the beans in a large pot with water and bring to a boil for a couple of minutes. Cover and let sit (off-heat) for 1 hour.

Pressure-cooker method

If using a pressure cooker, count on 30-45 minutes to prepare one pound of black beans with no need to soak. Black beans and chickpeas take the longest to cook of all varieties.

Once soaked by a method above, cook beans according to table below. Adding a couple of teaspoons of oil will reduce the amount of foam that forms.

Cooking times for popular beans

Black Beans
soaked 1½ - 2 hours
unsoaked 2¼ - 2½ hours
Pinto Beans
soaked 1 - 1¼ hours
unsoaked 1½ - 1¾ hours
Black-Eyed Peas
soaked 1 -¼ hours
unsoaked 1½ - 1¾ hours
Chickpeas (Garbonzo)
soaked 1½ - 2 hours
unsoaked 2¼ - 2½ hours
Red Kidney Beans
soaked 1 - 1¼ hours
unsoaked 1½ - 1¾ hours
Lentils
unsoaked 20 - 30 min
Great Northern Beans
soaked 1 - 1¼ hours
unsoaked 1½ - 1 3/4 hours
Navy Beans
soaked 1 - 1¼ hours
unsoaked 1½ - 1¾ hours
Cannellini Beans
soaked 1 - 1¼ hours
unsoaked 1½ - 1¾ hours