Black Beans (Cafe Rio)

Now, both Paul and I prefer pinto beans on our Cafe Rio salads. For some reason, though, the only recipes I have found have been for black beans. I will continue to look around for a good pinto bean recipe, but in the mean time, this one works pretty well!

I can't vouch for it's authenticity, since I really can't remember what the Cafe Rio black beans are like, but these are yummy and flavorful.

Black Beans (Cafe Rio)

Ingredients:

2 T. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. ground cumin

1 can black beans, rinsed

1 1/3 c. tomato juice

1 1/2 t. salt

2 T. fresh chopped cilantro

Directions:

Heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cumin and stir for a minute or two (until the garlic becomes aromatic). Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Stir frequently until heated through. Add cilantro just before serving. Serve with a slotted spoon to drain off excess tomato juice.

Notes: I think the key to this recipe is to only cook it until the beans are heated through. I cooked mine too long, so the tomato juice started to thicken and didn't drain off as easily when I served them. This means that the beans should probably be the last thing you prepare for the salads. Also, I'm not sure the cilantro is necessary in this recipe. It didn't seem to add much to me. There's a lot of cilantro in these salads elsewhere, so if you would like to cut back on it in one area, this would be a good one.

Again, I got this recipe from FFR. The original can be found here: Black Beans (Cafe Rio).