Drunken beans with seitan chorizo

The recipe for drunken beans with seitan chorizo jumped out at me the very first time I flicked through Viva Vegan. I'm not sure if it was name that grabbed me or the mouth watering description of the boozy beans but as soon as the chorizo recipe was deemed a success, this recipe was bookmarked to try.

That was several months ago now and every time I have set out to try this something has prevented me from giving it a go. The original recipe uses dried pinto beans which need to be soaked 8 hours or overnight which has caused a couple of problems. The first being that I haven't been able to source dried pinto beans in my area and when I made a trip to Casa Iberica to stock up on Latin American ingredients I stupidly purchased tinned pinto beans rather than dried. The other showstopper has purely been lack of organisation on my part in preparing dried beans ahead of time. 

I couldn't wait any longer so something had to be compromised. Tinned legumes and beans are something I have been cutting back on using recently so I opted to sub in some dried red kidney beans. After the initial soaking period, the beans are simmered for up to 2 hours with dried epazote, a mexican herb I was excited to find at Casa Iberica. This meal takes a fair bit of time from start to finish but there is a lot of down time to prepare other side dishes along the way.

As this was going to be a heavy meal that was going to be served with my favorite rice dish from the book - Cilantro Lime rice, I decided it was time to try something from the salads chapter to lighten it somewhat. I found a nice simple salad that suited what was in the fridge which was the Spinach-Avocado-Chile salad, the chile component being a part of the dressing.

This dinner was right up my alley but the boys found it a bit too spicy. Luckily I had skipped an ingredient in the drunken beans that I didn't have which was a couple of serrano chillies. The salad added a nice cooling touch as the chilli flavour in this was smoky rather than overly spicy. The beer wasn't really detectable on the night, however the flavour was a little more prominent the next day. Tequila was an additional ingredient in the recipe that I didn't have on hand so this was omitted.

Drunken Beans with Seitan Chorizo (Adapted from Viva Vegan)

2 cups dried red kidney beans
4 1/2 cups cold water
1 tablespoon dried epazote
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
1/2 quantity of the chorizo sausage recipe
1 1/2 teaspoons Mexican/Spanish oregano
2 teaspoons chilli powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes
1 red capsicum, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
375ml beer
1/2 large red onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh coriander, chopped
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 jalapenos, diced finely

Place the kidney beans in a bowl and cover with water so that the beans are covered with at least 2 inches of water. Leave the beans to soak for 8 hours.

Drain the beans, rinse well, then place into a large pot with 4 1/2 cups of cold water and epazote. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours.

After the beans have been cooking for an hour, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add the seitan chorizo and fry for 8 minutes, stirring frequently. Mix through the oregano, chilli powder, cumin, diced tomatoes, red capsicum and salt and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Remove about a cup of the bean cooking liquid and reserve then add the chorizo and tomato mixture to the pot, followed by the beer and stir to combine. Simmer for a further 45 minutes partially covered, adding more bean cooking liquid if required. Turn off the heat and allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.

To prepare the garnish, mix together red onion, coriander, lime juice and jalpenos. Serve the drunken beans and chorizo with rice or tortillas topped with the garnish.