Feijoada (Tangy Black Beans) from Diet For A Small Planet

Feijoada (Tangy Black Beans) from Diet For A Small Planet

Oil for sautéing
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped
1 red sweet pepper, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 teaspoon cilantro
1 cup black beans (dry, yes, you can use canned, drain and don’t use stock and bay leaf)
3 cups vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon red wine or 1 teaspoon red wine or other vinegar
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 orange, washed, cut in half, NOT peeled (or about a quarter cup of orange juice)
½ teaspoon salt
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced

Heat oil in large heavy pot and sauté onion, garlic, green onions, sweet red pepper tomato and cilantro until onion is transparent. Add beans, stock, bay leaf, pepper, and red wine or vinegar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Take off stove and let sit, covered, for 1 hour.

Add remaining ingredients and simmer with lid ajar, for 2 to 3 hours, or until beans are tender. Remove orange from beans and discard. Remove a couple ladles of beans and mash them, and return to the pot to thicken the mixture.

Note: pressure cooker or crock pot works fine. To substitute canned black beans, use two cans black beans, drain one, add sautéed vegetables and one can of vegetable stock. Simmer all together with the sweet potato and carrot till the sweet potato and carrot are cooked and tender.

Another note: Using a perfectly good, expensive orange for this, then discarding it, goes against my basically frugal nature. I use about a half cup of orange juice rather than the orange. I have also used lime or lemon juice, in smaller measure, when out of orange juice, since I usually have a number of different citrus fruits hiding somewhere in the refrigerator.

Yet another note: Omit smashing some of the beans, drain beans (SAVE LIQUID) and serve, cold, over a bed of salad greens with tomatoes, cucumbers and whatever else you like on a salad. Nice hot weather dinner and the black beans are gorgeous against the colors of the salad. I like it topped with Thousand Island dressing or naked. Er...the salad is naked, not me.