garnachas

Yolanda taught me how to make garnachas on Sunday night. a tasty, crunchy, salty treat...

- fry pre-cooked corn tortillas in vegetable oil until crunchy (just a couple minutes) and drain on a paper towel
- spoon on top: refried beans, finely shredded cabbage (tossed with white vinegar and salt to taste), finely diced onion (treated the same way) and finely grated cheese (Yolanda used a semi-hard Dutch cheese, but pick your favorite)


if you're feeling adventurous, you can make your own refried beans like so...

- sort through dried black beans to remove stones
- rinse until water runs clear
- boil until tender
- add sliced onion, chopped tomato and salt to taste. cook until onion is tender.
- you can eat these beans with rice and chicken (or whatever kind of meat you like). they're called stew beans. Yolanda told me that in order to keep them from going bad over the next few days, people used to cook them a little more each night, and each night the sauce would get a little thicker. once it's thickened considerably, you can...
- throw them in a blender and blend on high speed
- pass blended beans through a fine mesh strainer into a small cast iron pan. this will remove the skins. you'll need to stir them up with a spoon to get them to pass through the mesh. add water to get the stubborn bit at the end to go through. repeat if necessary. add water to the pan to achieve the consistency you like.
- heat on the stovetop
- just as the beans begin to bubble, add a small amount of vegetable oil
- once they start to boil, remove from heat

ta-dah!