A few months ago I started a vegetarian cooking group with some friends. This most recent meal was Salvadoran, and my friends Ashley and Elvis taught us all how to make pupusas and other Salvadoran items like refried beans, horchata, jamaica, cabbage slaw, and salsa. I’m sharing the vegan Salvadoran refried beans recipe here because I was so excited to learn this for myself. You can use these garlicky refried beans in a myriad of ways. Our group used them as pupusa filling, and also as a topping for Salvadoran enchiladas which look like small tostadas.
These Vegan Salvadoran Refried Beans are vegan, but taste as rich as if they had lard. The trick is the inclusion of an entire head of garlic, plus 2 onions, which all get pureed into the beans. Part of the onions and garlic boil with the beans, and the rest are seared in a cast iron skillet until blistering and brown. What surprised me is that you only chop the onion into quarters before sautéing it, and the garlic cloves are left whole to sauté. Previously, I had always cut these aromatics into smaller pieces to cook in a skillet, but this process sears the edges while it softens in the interiors. The pieces all turn richly fragrant, and mildly sweet. In the end, the beans also have a slightly sweet flavor from the softened onion and garlic. It’s the kind of subtle sweetness you find in caramelized onions or oven-roasted garlic.
The recipe calls for red Salvadoran beans, which you can find at most Latino markets. If you can’t find them, you could substitute another kind of small red bean. They are small enough that you don’t have to soak them before boiling.
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried Salvadoran red beans
- 8 cups water
- 2 onions (separated)
- 1 whole head of garlic (separated)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 4 tablespoons canola oil or other light oil
