Easy Re-Fried Beans

A big fan of Mexican food, one of the side dishes I love is re-fried beans. They are sold in tins here in England but its just so easy to make.

I created this recipe many years ago, on holiday with a group of friends. We were all staying in cottages in a place called Darley, Yorkshire and I was the only one of the group happy to cook. I made a deal with them. Being a vegetarian at the time, I suggested that I did ALL the cooking (great response) as long as it was vegetarian (not so great response). We were located in a place that had very few shops, but I happily went off shopping. In the five days we were there, I heard no complaints as they tucked into various veggie dishes. One of the nights was Mexican food, so one of the side dishes was a hot, garlicky, melting cheese topped dish of re-fried beans. I have stuck with the same recipe ever since and it is store cupboard staple too.

Ingredients:

1 400g tin cannellini beans, rinsed & drained
1 400g tin red kidney beans, rinsed & drained
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 pint chicken stock
salt
black pepper
grated hard cheese or mozzarella

Method:

In a wide frying pan, fry the onion until translucent. Add the garlic for another 2 minutes and then add the two tins of beans with the hot stock. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes.

Then, with a potato masher, simply mash the contents of the pan. Season with a little salt and lots of black pepper. Top with grated cheese and serve with the cheese melting lovingly over the delicious re-fried beans. Perfect!

Note: If you like it spicy - add a couple of chopped chillies with the garlic - I do!