Simple 4 Ingredient Cuban Black Beans

I was searching through my cabinet looking for a delicious vegetarian dish to bring to work when I remembered a post I had seen a while ago, talking about how to cook beans without soaking. I had a bag of black beans, 3 cloves of garlic and one shallot left so I figured why not. This dish came out so delicious! In cuba they add an orange, into their black beans which adds so much depth to this simple earthy dish. Enjoy! I serve these over white rice (traditional cuban way).

Ingredients: 

1 Bag of black beans (rinsed, plus remove any bad beans and rocks) 

1\2 a sweet orange, preferably organic because the peel will soak in the water

3 cloves of garlic (uncut, but you can cut if you want to) 

1 shallot (you can dice, I put in the whole one without cutting)
Enough water to cover beans plus about 1/2 an inch. *
1-2 tablespoons of sea salt/Himalayan salt. (omit if you are salt-free)

Directions:
In a ceramic or clay pot, add all ingredients. Add water last filling till all of the beans are covered plus 1/2 an inch more. Bring to a boil, using medium heat, then reduce to low and cover and cook for 3 hours. Yes these beans take 3 hours, but without pre-soaking, I expected to have to cook with them for a while.


*I like to really taste the beans when I eat them, if you do not enjoy a simpler black bean then you can add a lot of flavor to this dish, by using veggie broth instead of water and adding in 1-2 tablespoons of chili powder (or curry powder), 1 tablespoon of pepper and 1 tablespoon of paprika. Enjoy!