CUBAN BLACK BEANS

Steps:

• Cover dry beans with water and let stand covered overnight. Drain and discard water.
• Place the cleaned black beans in a large 6-quart saucepan. Add water and olive oil-this will prevent the beans from foaming. Bring the beans to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until the beans are tender, about 1 hour.
• Do not add salt to the beans when they are cooking. Salt at this stage of the game will make your beans very tough.
• You may also cook the beans in a pressure cooker. Follow the manufacturer's directions for exact times, but our pressure cooker takes about 20 to 25 minutes to cook the beans completely.
• Whichever method you use, do not drain the water from the cooked beans.
• Meanwhile, chop onion and green pepper. Mash the garlic with salt and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle.
• Sauté the onions and green pepper in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Add mashed garlic and sauté another minute or so.
• Add the cooked beans, oregano, cumin, bay leaf, vinegar, and wine. Cover and simmer over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf.
• Some cooks-including us-like to thicken the beans by taking about 1 cup of beans and mashing them to make a thick paste. Mix the mashed beans back into the pot.
• Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
• Stir in the sugar; then drizzle a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over the beans. Immediately cover the pot, remove from heat, and let stand for 10 minutes.
• Serve the by now fantastically prepared black beans over white rice.
• You may garnish the beans with cilantro and chopped white onions. Not only do they look good presented this way, they taste even better than they look.