Cuban Style Black Bean Rolls
I am always on a lookout for traditional recipes, especially the old and lost ones which were copyrighted by our grandma’s grandma. Typically, I like to discover them and try to recreate them using paleo friendly ingredients. And while swapping the ingredients may not always be as easy as it sounds there are some recipes which have the potential to become extremely paleo friendly with just a few tweaks… And Cuban Style Black Beans is one such recipe.
Locally known as Frijoles Negros (pronounced as Free-ho-lease Negro) these Cuban black beans are typically teamed with rice. But when I had made them for the first time I knew this recipe had room for much more. Teaming them with my cassava rolls solved two purposes
1. Rolls are great as packed meals – So if you want to carry them along to office or on your day out they provide a great ‘retrieve and eat anywhere’ kind of an option
2. Cassava rolls offer higher value in terms of nutrition as compared to rice. It is a great alternative to wheat and is low is calories, fat and sugar. In fact Cassava flour tortillas was one of my earliest recipes on this blog.
You can view it here..
For that matter black beans is also the kind of food that every one of us can benefit from. It is an affordable source of protein and fibre, has high anti oxidant and anti inflammatory properties, helps you improve your cardiovascular health, keeps blood sugar levels in check, helps improve digestion and aids weight loss.. It is a super food with an earthy and natural flavour.
So here goes the recipe then:
Cuban Style Black Bean Rolls
Equipment
- Silver Foil
Ingredients
- Canned Black Beans (approx 800 ml)
- Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
- Long Peppers - 1/2 (finely chopped)
- Coconut Oil - 1 teaspoon
- Olive oil - 2 teaspoons
- Cayenne Pepper - 1/2 teaspoon
- Onion Powder - 1 teaspoon
- Apple Cider Vinegar - 1 tablespoon
- Red Wine Vinegar - 1 teaspoon
- Coconut Sugar - 1 teaspoon
- Cumin powder - 1 teaspoon
- Oregano - 1 teaspoon
- Himalayan Sea Salt to taste
- Button Mushrooms - 2 (finely chopped)
- Baby Spinach - handful (finely chopped)
- Himalayan Sea Salt to taste
- Red chilli fakes 1/2 teaspoon
- Black Pepper - 1 teaspoon
- Cassava Flour Tortillas - 6
- To garnish
- Coriander leaves
- Grated feta cheese
Instructions
- Start by emptying the black beans can on a cooking bowl and leave them be on a simmering flame until we prepare the rest of the ingredients
- To another cooking bowl add coconut oil and once the oil is adequately hot add in finely chopped onions with a pinch of salt and cook them until tender
- After that add in chopped peppers and mix, them nicely and cook them for another 2-3 minutes until the peppers are tender
- Now add Red Wine Vinegar, Apple Cider Vinegar, 1 teaspoon olive oil and a pinch of Himalayan salt and mix them for about 2-3 minutes until everything is well incorporated
- Now take a portion of your black beans along with the liquid brine (about 3 big spoonfuls) that have been simmering for a while add it to the vinegary onion and pepper mixture..
- Mash these beans into the onion and pepper mixture with the help of back your spoon to form a thicker sauce like consistency
- After about 3-4 minutes the water will be absorbed and the sauce will have a thicker consistency.. add this sauce back to the rest of the beans and stir well to mix everything together and let them simmer by covering them for about 2 minutes
- After 2 minutes turn the flame to medium high and add coconut sugar, cumin powder and oregano powder
- Mix well and let the bean cook on a medium flame for 3 more minutes..
- Your black beans will now have a thicker overall consistency. Turn off the gas and let them cool down.
- On another skillet add a 1/2 a teaspoon coconut oil and add in finely chopped button mushrooms and spinach and season them with salt pepper and chilli flakes
- Cook them until the mushrooms and spinach have wilted and have reduced to less than half its original size
- Now take a silver foil and place the cassava roll on it with 70% of roll inside the foil
- Spread the mushrooms, spinach mixture to form a base
- Top it with the cuban black beans and garnish with coriander leaves and grated cheese
- Prepare the rolls by rolling the silver foil at first grabbing cassava tortilla on the way
Video
Notes
The PPC Notes:
- If you don’t have canned beans buy the dry ones from the market, soak them overnight and cook them in the pressure cooker along with water and a pinch of salt the next day. Save the liquid brine that remains after cooking.
- You can precook the cassava rolls and store them in a freezer. Watch my video here.