Habichuelas Guisadas

Ingredients

• 2 tins red kidney beans, with their liquid
• 200 g auyama or butternut squash, in cubes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ green pepper, finely chopped
• 3 culantro leaves, or a handful of coriander
• 1½ tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 300 ml vegetable stock or water
• 1 tsp salt, to taste

Method

1. Sofrito first

   Soften the onion, garlic, pepper and culantro in the oil over medium heat until sweet and translucent. Nothing here should brown — this is the gentle end of Dominican cooking, not a guiso.

   7 min

2. Cook out the purée

   Stir in the tomato purée and oregano and let them fry for a minute until the purée turns brick red and smells sweet rather than tinny.

   2 min

3. Beans and auyama together

   Add the beans with their liquid, the pumpkin and the stock and simmer for twenty minutes. The pumpkin is the thickener: it dissolves into the pot and gives the sauce its body without any flour.

   20 min

4. Crush and season

   Crush some of the beans and pumpkin against the side of the pot until the sauce coats a spoon, then salt it. It should be loose enough to pour over rice — habichuelas are a sauce, not a side of beans.