You have to sprinkle a few chilly flakes on that, otherwise it just looks like something nasty in a bowl. Refried beans are a staple in the mexican kitchen and are the secret glue in every burrito. The term refried doesn’t make too much sense to me, so I would rather call it refined or spiced up beans. And since I am not able to nicely wrap a burrito, I am spreading the beans on puffed corn crackers instead – for a quick snack. You can add tofu scramble to level up this recipe to a full meal. Get creative and mix things up!

Refried – I mean spiced up black beans spread on crackers plus tofu scramble.

What do you need to make refined beans?

a big blob of coconut oil (25 g) – to roast the chili and onion

2 fresh chili peppers – the mild finger sized version in any color

1 small yellow onion – peeled and cut into small chunks

2 teaspoons of smoked paprika powder (10 ml) – it’s important

1 teaspoon of salt (5ml) – less or more depending on your taste

3 cloves of garlic – you can add more, but that’s the minimum

1 can of black beans  (400 g) – no need to rinse the beans

a few chili pepper flakes – to sprinkle on top for decoration, are optional

An overview of the ingredients to make refined beans.
Coconut oil, fresh chili, onion, garlic, smoked paprika powder, salt and of course black beans. That’s all you need.
First, chili and onion are frying in coconut oil. When the onions are getting roasted and get slightly brown, you put the rest of the ingredients into the pot.

And this is how you spice up black beans in a few steps. Cut the onion and the fresh chili peppers into rough pieces including the seed and fry those in a pot with a big blob of coconut oil. This will take a while, since the onions have to caramelize and you see brown roasted bits. Then you put in the garlic chunks, salt and smoked paprika powder. Stir and quickly add the black beans straight out of the can. Let all of this cook for a few minutes, then mix directly in the pot with a stick blender. Enjoy. ∎

half a cup | halbe Tasse = 100 ml
spoon | Löffel = 15 ml
teaspoon | Teelöffel = 5 ml
minispoon | Minilöffelchen = 1 ml