Black Bean Paste With Garlic And Vegetables

At Medovie, our mission is to help you to have a clear skin. Having a healthy skin starts with having a good diet, so today we show you this delicious recipe which will give you the nutrients your body needs, without the bad stuff. Try it at home and let us know if you liked it.

A dish that will take you straight to the food stalls of Mexico City.

It is tasty, made with inexpensive ingredients and easy to make, but apart from all that, black beans are remarkably healthy. Black beans are a primary source for many phytochemicals (those plant chemicals that have been researched for their protective and disease preventive properties), mainly those that give them their black colour and are called Anthocyanins. In this context, black beans may be included in the group consisting of red cabbage, red onion, blueberries and beets.

Moreover, black beans contain an especially high quantity of resistant starch, namely this kind of starch that does not tend to raise sugar levels in our blood, but is a food preferred by our digestive system bacteria, which we so much want to cultivate. Black beans are also an excellent source for zinc, folic acid and dietary fibres.

You can make this paste with many other beans such as kidney, black-eyed or speckled, and get a different taste each time.

Serve on bread or crackers, enjoy as a vegetarian dish next to a big vegetable salad or, just like the Mexicans do, present it with rice and vegetables as a full meal.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups of dried black beans, soaked for 8 hours in water to cover

A piece of dried kombu seaweed or 1 bay leaf

1 large purple onion

2-3 cloves garlic

2 medium carrots

1 parsnip root

Sea salt, black pepper

½ tsp of ground cumin

3 Tbsps of extra virgin olive oil

Finley sliced spring onions, including white parts (optional)

Method:

Drain the soaked beans and put them in a large pot.

Cover with plenty of water and cook with the seaweed &  garlic. These will absorb gases and later facilitate digestion.

Meanwhile cut the onion, carrot and parsnip root into medium cubes.

After 1 hour, when the beans are almost soft, add the diced vegetables and continue cooking for about 15 minutes, until the beans and vegetables are soft.

Drain the cooking liquid, and reserve 1 cup of the liquid. Remove the seaweed (or bay leaf) 

Mash the beans and vegetables with a potato masher, add the olive oil and some of the reserved cooking liquid to achieve the desired consistency.

 Season with salt, pepper and the ground cumin. If desired, sprinkle with sliced spring onions. Serve warm.

• The paste will keep in the fridge for three days, covered. Bring to room temperature and soften with a little hot water before serving.