A fresh and tasty bean dip that will please everyone! The cumin brings this dip out of the hordes of endless dips that all taste the same. The fact that this dip is made of healthy tepary beans and no dairy means that it’s great for any occasion, and for your vegan friends.

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup dried tepary beans
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
• pinch dried red pepper
• additional pinch dried oregano

Directions:

Sort and rinse beans and place in one quart of cold water in a lidded pot. Soak in refrigerator for 12 hours or overnight. After soaking, drain beans and place in lidded pot with another quart of water. Simmer, covered, one to two hours or until tender. Drain excess liquid from beans and refrigerate overnight. Puree beans, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, cumin, and oregano until smooth. Transfer mixture to a serving bowl and sprinkle with dried red pepper and additional oregano. Serve with crackers, crudités, or pita chips. Makes about 1-1/4 cups.

Recipe from: http://www.tucsoncsa.org

Try this salsa over green corn tamales, cheese enchiladas, or with calabacitas (zucchini or summer squash cooked with chiles, onion, garlic, tomatoes, and lime juice). Of course, it’s also wonderful with chips.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked tepary beans
• 1 small jar (6-ounce) nopalitos
• 1 can (10-ounce) corn, drained, or about 2 ears of fresh corn cut from the cob
• 5 medium, ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-6 fresh chilepequíns or chiletepíns, finely minced (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon blended chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, minced
• Juice of 3 small limes (or 1 large lemon)
• Pinch of salt (optional)

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together well and refrigerate for an hour or so (to let the flavors marry) or serve immediately with hot corn tortillas or chips.

Recipe from: http://www.tasteoftx.com

photo credit: Luke Wisley

Papago Tepary Bean Soup is a nice, healthy soup for a cold winter day.  Like all soups, you can modify this recipe on the fly, which means this is really lot’s of recipes in one!

Ingredients:

• 2 c  Tepary beans, soaked
• 1 ts Mixed oregano and cumin
• 1 Clove garlic, diced
• 1 md Onion, chopped
• 6 c  Water
• 1 c  Diced celery
• 3 c  Tomatoes w/juice
• 2 Carrots, sliced
• 4 Slices bacon, diced*

Directions:

Drain soaked beans and bring to boil in big pot.  When tender, fry bacon until limp.  Remove bacon; add onion, carrots, celery and garlic and saute. Add bacon, tomatoes and juice and the remaining spices.  Cook 10 minutes and  add beans.  Cook another hour until beans are mealy-tender. Optional: Dried red chile pepper may be stirred into pot during the last 10 minutes. Serve with flour tortillas or fresh frybread.

Serves 6.

*Vegetarians - can leave bacon out

Recipe from: Papa
photo credit: Simon Aughton