You know you want it.

The best bean and cheese burritos usually have beans made with lard, elevating the simple two ingredient combo to god levels. This recipe bumps up the bean flavor with other non-lard flavor amplifiers like tomato paste and butter. Warm spices like turmeric and sumac add some strange brightness to cut through all the gooeyness. I prefer mine grilled or crisped up in a saute pan, making sure the cheese inside melts all the way, and providing a welcome contrast to the crunchy tortilla.

Equipment

Medium pot

Saute pan or grill

Ingredients

Two 10” – 12” Flour Tortillas

1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese (medium sharpness for meltability)

*Makes 2 Burritos*

Turmeric Refried Beans

1 can pinto beans whole (with juice)

½ red onion finely diced

4 cloves garlic finely diced

1 -2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tbsp of your favorite hot sauce

2 tbsp of tomato paste

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp sumac

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Directions

1. Dice ½ red onion finely
2. Dice 4 cloves of garlic finely (or 3 huge ones, 5 small ones)
3. Put a medium pot or saucepan on medium heat, add oil, onions and garlic, making sure it’s sizzling well but not going to burn
4. Lower to low-medium heat, add salt and red chili flake
5. Cook for 10 minutes to sweat out, but not to color, stirring here and there
6. Add butter, turmeric, sumac, stir thoroughly and cook down for 2 minutes
7. Add tomato paste stir thoroughly, and cook down for 2 minutes
8. Add pinto beans, juice and all, stir thoroughly
9. Cook on medium low heat, so it’s just barely bubbling, covered, for about 30 minutes, stirring every now and again. Depending on the pot and your stove, you may need to do straight up low heat
10. Smush the beans as much as you’d like them to be smushed, some people like them whole, I like a half n half.

Burrito Assembly

1. Fill tortillas evenly with beans and cheese, wrap them up, look it up on youtube if you don’t feel confident doing it
2. Heat the burrito on a saute pan on medium heat, rotating often to make sure it doesn’t burn, start with the seam side down. For an extra bump, crisp on a hot charcoal grill if you’ve got one already going.
3. Serve immediately with your favorite hot sauce.