Canned beans make this dish easy and quick to make. The original authentic recipe came off the back of a can of Goya Black Beans and has been tweaked over the years to yield a delicious dish of flavorful black beans in a thick rich sauce. The sauce is produced by mashing or pureeing half of the beans and the other ingredients before adding the final can of beans. Serve with white rice or Yellow Rice.

Serves 6
Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 cup chopped onion

• 1/2 cup chopped cubanelle pepper, or other mild, fruity chile pepper (optional)

• 4 cloves of minced garlic

• 3 (15 ounce) cans of black beans (undrained)

• 1 1/2 cup water or chicken broth

• 2 teaspoons oregano

• 2 Bay leaf (remove after cooking)

• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

• 1 package Sazòn Goya without annatto (Note: if you do not have Sazòn Goya a substitute would be ½ teaspoon ground cumin, 1 chicken bouillon cube, and about a teaspoon of garlic powder.)

• 2 tablespoons cooking wine or 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Directions:

• Heat the oil in a medium saucepan, sauté the onion, cubanelle, and garlic until fragrant and tender.

• Add the remaining ingredients to the saucepan, reserving 2 cans of beans.

• Bring the ingredients in the saucepan to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

• Remove from heat, pick out and reserve the Bay leaves, and working in batches lightly puree the ingredients in a food processor (a few pulses per batch), or alternatively mash the beans by hand with a fork or spoon.

• Return the processed bean mixture to the saucepan along with the cans of reserved beans and reserved Bay leaves, bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Garnish with chopped cilantro.