Quelites con Frijoles (Shakua con Frijoles)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Clay olla or heavy bean pot
• •Wide clay cazuela from Capula or Tzintzuntzan
• •Comal de barro over lena, or a cast iron comal if that is what your kitchen allows
• •Wooden cuchara
• •Blender for the guajillo puree

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the beans

   Put the beans in a clay olla or heavy pot with the water, the half onion, and the two peeled garlic cloves. Bring to a gentle boil, then lower the heat and cook until the beans are tender, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on age. Salt them only when they begin to soften. Old beans take longer. Don't argue with the pot.

2. 2

   Clean the quelites

   Wash the quelites in several changes of water until no grit settles at the bottom of the bowl. Strip away tough stems and keep the tender stems and leaves. Chop them roughly. These are field greens, not lettuce from a plastic bag. Treat them like something that grew close to the soil because they did.

   If a market vendor in Michoacan sells mixed quelites, ask what is in the bundle. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado. Quintonil and cenizo cook down softly. Verdolaga gives a little acidity and body.
3. 3

   Toast the chile

   Heat a dry comal over medium heat, ideally a comal de barro over lena. Toast the guajillos just until the skins darken slightly and smell deep, about 20 to 30 seconds per side. Do not blacken them. Soak in hot water for 15 minutes, then blend with 1/2 cup of bean broth until smooth.

4. 4

   Fry the aromatics

   In a wide cazuela, melt the manteca over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook until translucent and sweet-smelling, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and the slit chile serrano or peron. Stir for 30 seconds. The fat should smell like onion, garlic, and chile, not scorched garlic.

5. 5

   Wilt the greens

   Add the chopped quelites by handfuls, turning them with a wooden spoon so the manteca coats every leaf. They will look like too much at first. They are not. In a few minutes they collapse, darken, and release their field smell. Cook them until they are fully softened, 6 to 8 minutes. Raw quelites do not belong in this dish.

6. 6

   Add beans and broth

   Add 4 cups cooked beans with 3 cups of their broth to the cazuela. Stir in the blended guajillo and the epazote sprig. Simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes, until the broth turns earthy red-brown and the greens taste like they belong to the beans. If the pot thickens too much, add more bean broth. Taste for salt at the end.

7. 7

   Serve in barro

   Remove the epazote stem and the whole slit chile if you don't want someone surprised at the table. Serve the shakua con frijoles in rough red barro with warm hand-pressed corn tortillas from the comal. No cheese blanket. No flour tortillas. No me vengas con atajos. This is a Purhepecha home dish and it stands on its own.

Chef Tips

• •Use the quelites the market gives you. Quintonil, cenizo, nabo greens, and verdolaga all belong when they are tender and clean. If the bundles are yellowed, slimy, or bitter from age, don't buy them. The pot cannot fix dead greens.
• •The fat is manteca de cerdo, not vegetable oil. A small amount carries the onion and chile into the bean broth. Use oil and the dish goes thin. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •This recipe is shakua con frijoles, not a terekuecha mushroom plate. Rainy-season mushrooms in the Meseta Purhepecha, including trompa de puerco, pashakua, and pata de pajaro, belong to July and August when the forest gives them. Outside those months, the cocinera tradicional waits for rain.
• •Do not replace foraged Purhepecha mushrooms with white button mushrooms if you are cooking a terekuecha plate. Champinon is not trompa de puerco, not pashakua, not pata de pajaro. Wrong ingredient, wrong dish.
• •For Purhepecha mushroom dishes, name the source and the season: Maria Elena Reyes of Cocucho is known for foraged mushroom plates, Cheran K'eri grounds chilke rojo, and Comachuen and Nahuatzen are tied to pata de pajaro. This matters because indigenous food is not anonymous.

Advance Preparation

• •The beans can be cooked up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated in their broth. Do not drain them. The broth is part of the recipe.
• •The quelites should be washed the day you cook them. If you must clean them ahead, wrap them in a damp towel and refrigerate for no more than 1 day.
• •The finished dish keeps for 3 days, but the greens darken as they sit. Reheat gently with a splash of bean broth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 430g)