Beans Liquados

Beans Liquados (changed my life! No more Rositas for me!) -- Yuka's recipe

1.5 lbs Pinto Beans
Water (double that of the beans)
2 teaspoons of salt (or more to taste)
corn oil

Boil your salted water. Add your beans and simmer partially covered (tilted cover) for about an hour until soft. RESERVE ALL LIQUID FROM THE POT, this is how you get the smooth or liquido beans). I pour everything from the pot into a big pitcher, see below.

Heat some corn oil in a pan. Fry desired amount of beans in pan, pouring in bean liquid from your pitcher to desired consistency. I was taught to then mash the juice and beans directly in the pan (w/a potato masher), but last night I realized that's probably not a good idea for teflon, so i fried for a bit then transfered to a blender. Here were the smooth refried pinto beans of my bean burrito and huevos rancheros dreams.....

note: If you like them chunkier use a regular pan and mash away. Store the unused beans and liquid in the pitcher in the fridge. Then when you want some more freshly refried beans just pour and scoop from the pitcher.

Common mistake: not enough water in the pot. The first time I did this by myself I didn't have enough water and burnt the beans before they were tender. I also used a high output mega burner. Not a good idea. Last night I used more water than I thought I needed and switched to a regular sized burner and I had a good amount of juice w/o burned beans.

note- using a decent amount of oil and salt makes these yummy. You can add some of that soft white crumbly Mexican cheese on top if you really want to do it right!