Black Beans For Breakfast

Earlier this summer in THIS POST we talked about experimenting with growing and drying black beans.  We ended up with a large bowl of shiny, beautiful black beans.

So what to do with them?  Tricia recalls growing up in South Texas (Corpus Christi, to be exact) and fondly remembers a meal that her mom would make them for breakfast.  Tricia's mom made this meal with pinto beans, but we're going to make it with black beans, since we grew some in the garden this year.  Pinto beans, Tricia says, are more of a 'South Texas thing,' whereas black beans are more of a Mexico staple dish.  She wanted to prepare it for us.  First she soaked the black beans and cooked them on the stove.

Then, using a stick blender, she pureed the black beans and continued cooking them until a lot of the water evaporated.  They began to really thicken up.

While they were thickening, Tricia began to make homemade tortillas.  You can buy tortillas at the store, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm spoiled to the homemade ones.  It takes more work, but they are far superior to store-bought ones.

Once they're all rolled out you pop them in a heated skillet, flipping them once until they are golden brown.

So now to continue in a walk down memory lane with Tricia and her recollections of comfort food as a kid.  Taking a warm tortilla in your hand, spoon out some black beans onto the tortilla and spread evenly on one side.

Fold the other side over and then place in a skillet with oil and fry the 'black bean quesadilla,' flipping once in the oil until both sides are golden brown.

Now, you are ready to eat!  I added some sliced red and green jalapenos from the garden that I just picked and squeezed a lime over it.

Tricia was interested to see if it tasted like her childhood.  She said it did.  Black bean tacos for breakfast!  Muy bueno!