Last weekend I went out for Mexican food with some friends. I’m from Toronto, where Mexican food is much less common than it seems to be in the US, and I have limited experience with Mexican food.
The beans that they served with the rice were fantastic. I must make them. Owing to limited familiarity with the cuisine, I don’t where to start. They were in a kind of rough puree, a bit spicy, and very savoury. Not refried beans- they were more goopy. I think the bean type was probably pinto.
I’m guessing that they had lard in them, but beyond that I’m stumped. Any ideas or recipes?
Oh, and if anyone has a good recipe for a simple savoury dal I’d be grateful for it. Thanks.
Are you using dal as slang for beans in general, as opposed to lentils? What you were served could well be a version of refried beans – I don’t know that there’s a specific pan-Mexican standard for the amount of moisture this dish can contain.
Diana Kennedy has the best books I’ve seen for preparing Mexican food in English. The books I have studied include a strong emphasis on technique, but there are certain exemplary recipes which illustrate these techniques. She’s the classic source for Mexican cooking in English language.
But, at the risk of stating the obvious – cook pinto beans using a tested method (salt prior to applying heat; don’t waste your time soaking unless your beans are very old; sort beans carefully). That should take about ninety minutes from dry, in a medium oven in a covered pot, or use a slow cooker. Add 1 tsp of table salt per lb of beans before covering the beans (adjust accordingly if using coarser salt).
Mash the beans, when cooked, using some variation of a traditional Mexican tool whose name I cannot remember. Add aromatics, fat, spices either at the last stage of cooking the beans or during the final grinding and frying. The bean broth can be added to the frying beans to render the correct consistency.
There’s no reason using this method or a simple variation shouldn’t yield equal or superior beans than you were served at your restaurant. You really should be able to make nearly anything your local restaurant can concoct at your own home, with better results, if you have the proper ingredients and time.
Never mind – I see your question about dal was entirely separate from the fried pinto dish. I have many awesome recipes for dal, from many states of India, but I’ll say that I learned the most about the techniques from reading the eGullet instruction courses. These contain many large pictures, so be patient if you have a dial-up connection.