Chef Lupita
Arroz con Plátano Jarocho
Veracruz's coastal rice, cooked white with onion, garlic, and broth, then finished with sweet plátano macho fried in manteca until the edges turn dark and caramelized.
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Frijoles Costeños con Epazote
Created by
Guerrero's Costa Chica black beans, simmered until thick and brothy with epazote, hoja de aguacate, onion, garlic, and manteca de cerdo.
Side Dishes
Mexican
Weeknight
Comfort Food
One Pot
20 min
Active Time
2 hr 30 min cook•2 hr 50 min total
Yield6 servings
Guerrero, Costa Chica. These are the black beans you find from Cuajinicuilapa toward the Oaxacan line, where Afro-Mexican kitchens know how to make a pot of beans taste like more than beans. Epazote, hoja de aguacate, garlic, and a little chile costeño rojo. That is the map in the pot.
This is not Veracruz, not Cuba, not Cartagena. The Costa Chica has its own register. The same coast that keeps plátano macho, yuca, and malanga in the daily kitchen also keeps these beans close: thick, dark, brothy, served from clay with queso de cincho and tortillas made by hand. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
The technique belongs to women who understood economy before anyone called it a lesson. Cook the beans gently. Salt them when they begin to soften. Add epazote late. Fry garlic in manteca de cerdo and return that fat to the pot so the broth gains body. No me vengas con atajos. Beans are humble only to people who don't know how to cook them.
I learned a version like this from a señora in Cuajinicuilapa who kept her avocado leaves tied in a bundle above the stove. She did not measure the epazote. She smelled the pot and knew. That is not magic. That is practice. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
The Costa Chica of Guerrero and Oaxaca is one of Mexico's historic Afro-Mexican regions, shaped by enslaved Africans, Indigenous Mixtec and Amuzgo communities, and Spanish colonial cattle economies from the 16th century onward. Black beans, epazote, and avocado leaves belong to Mesoamerican cooking, while the coastal use of plantain, yuca, malanga, and coconut reflects African and Afro-Caribbean foodways adapted to Mexican soil. Guerrero officially recognized its Afro-Mexican population in state law before national constitutional recognition arrived in 2019, but the cooking had carried that history for centuries.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried black beans
Quantity
1 pound
picked over and rinsed
water
Quantity
8 cups, plus more as needed
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
2 whole and 2 finely chopped
fresh epazote
Quantity
1 sprig, plus more to finish if needed
dried avocado leaves
Quantity
2
lightly toasted
dried chile costeño rojo
Quantity
1
stemmed but left whole
pork lard (manteca de cerdo)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
kosher salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
queso de cincho (optional)
Quantity
for serving
crumbled
handmade corn tortillas (optional)
Quantity
for serving
warm
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried black beanspicked over and rinsed | 1 pound |
| water | 8 cups, plus more as needed |
| white onion | 1/2 medium |
| garlic cloves2 whole and 2 finely chopped | 4 |
| fresh epazote | 1 sprig, plus more to finish if needed |
| dried avocado leaveslightly toasted | 2 |
| dried chile costeño rojostemmed but left whole | 1 |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo) | 2 tablespoons |
| kosher salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| queso de cincho (optional)crumbled | for serving |
| handmade corn tortillas (optional)warm | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •3-quart clay olla or heavy Dutch oven
- •Cast iron comal for toasting avocado leaves
- •Wooden spoon
- •Small skillet for frying garlic in lard
Instructions
- 1
Pick the beans
Spread the black beans on a tray and remove stones, broken beans, and anything that does not belong in the pot. Rinse well. Do not skip this because you trust the bag. Ask the women at the market: beans are field food, and field food carries bits of the field.
- 2
Start the pot
Put the beans in a clay bean pot or heavy Dutch oven with 8 cups water, the half onion, 2 whole garlic cloves, the toasted avocado leaves, and the whole chile costeño rojo. Bring to a gentle simmer. The chile is there for depth, not for punishment. Not all Mexican food is trying to burn your mouth.
- 3
Simmer slowly
Cook uncovered or loosely covered over low heat for 1 hour and 30 minutes, adding hot water when the beans start showing above the surface. The broth should stay dark and moving, not dry and angry. Stir from the bottom now and then so the beans cook evenly.
- 4
Add the epazote
When the beans are almost tender, add the fresh epazote sprig and 1 teaspoon salt. Epazote goes in late because its flavor turns dull if you punish it for two hours. Cook 30 to 45 minutes more, until the beans are soft inside and the broth has body.
- 5
Fry the garlic
In a small skillet, melt the manteca de cerdo over medium heat. Add the 2 finely chopped garlic cloves and cook until pale gold, not brown. Pour in one ladle of bean broth carefully, stir, then scrape everything back into the bean pot. La manteca es el sabor. Vegetable oil gives you grease. Lard gives you memory.
- 6
Thicken the broth
Mash one cup of beans against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon and stir them back into the broth. Simmer 10 minutes more. You want beans that are brothy but not watery, thick enough to coat a tortilla when you drag it through the cazuela.
- 7
Serve from clay
Remove the onion, spent garlic cloves, avocado leaves, and chile if you do not want them at the table. Taste for salt. Serve the beans in the clay cazuela with crumbled queso de cincho and warm handmade corn tortillas. Nothing more is needed. Así se hace y punto.
Chef Tips
- •Use fresh dried beans. If the beans have been sitting in a supermarket warehouse for three years, they will take forever and still cook unevenly. Buy from a mercado with turnover.
- •Hoja de aguacate matters here. Toast it lightly on a comal until fragrant before it goes into the pot. If you cannot find it, leave it out and know what you are missing: a soft anise-like perfume that belongs to southern Mexican beans.
- •The chile costeño rojo should season the broth, not turn this into a chile stew. Costa Chica beans are about depth, smoke, herb, and broth.
- •Queso de cincho is salty and firm, common in Guerrero and neighboring regions. If you cannot find it, use a dry, salty queso añejo as a compromise, not an upgrade.
- •Do not serve these with flour tortillas. Flour tortillas are a northern tradition. On the Costa Chica, bring warm corn tortillas to the table.
Advance Preparation
- •The beans can be cooked one day ahead. They thicken overnight and taste better the next day.
- •If reheating, add a splash of water and warm slowly over low heat so the beans do not scorch on the bottom.
- •You can pick and rinse the beans the night before. Soaking is optional for fresh beans, useful for older beans.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 350g)
Calories
465 calories
Total Fat
11 g
Saturated Fat
5 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
6 g
Cholesterol
20 mg
Sodium
650 mg
Total Carbohydrates
72 g
Dietary Fiber
15 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
23 g
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