Potaje (pronounced po- taw – hey) is a Cuban delicacy. I consider myself a connoisseur of Cuban food as I have been there many times. This is because my wife is from Holguin Cuba. To me when I think of Cuban food I think of Rice and Beans. My favorite meal in Cuba with beans is Potaje. It is basically a delicious bean soup. I present competing Potaje Recipes today.
The first recipe is mine that I cooked for my wife when she came to Canada. The second is how my wife says it should be done properly. In my opinion they are both good; but you be the judge.
OK, straight from Cuba, you can use a variety of beans to make Potaje. They are: lentils (brown), white beans, black beans, yellow beans, and brown beans.
My Potaje Recipe – Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 16oz/454 g Black Beans Dried
- 1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 15 oz/438 g Smoked Ham Hock (I use chopped Bacon)
- 12 oz Spanish Onion Chopped
- 12 oz Green Pepper Chopped
- 4 cloves Garlic Minced
- 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
- 2.5 tsp Ground Cumin
- 2 tsp brown sugar (my wife says no to sugar – optional)
- 3 pints1.5 quarts water
- 1 tsp Kosher salt (I used salt!)
Instructions Potaje
- Rinse Black Beans in cold water
- Select Sauté and allow to fully heat
- Next Add Olive oil to coat bottom of the pot; Add ham hock (or bacon), onions and green pepper and Sauté for 5 min.
- Add garlic, tomato paste, cumin and sugar and Sauté for 30 seconds
- Then Add Water and Black Beans to the cooking pot.
- Lock Lid and close pressure valve. Cook at High Pressure for 25 minutes. Wait 10 minutes after the Beep sounds and then release the pressure.
- Remove about 3/4 cup of the black beans and smash them well with a fork, Stir smashed beans back into the pot. This provides proper consistency! Taste and add salt, if needed.
- Select Sauté and simmer for 5 minutes.
You can replace the black beans with any of the beans in the above list. In this way it actually creates a variety of dishes to try. The different beans create a completely different taste and texture,
Enjoy Potaje
You can eat this delicacy as a soup on its own or, as is typically done in Cuba, over a base of cooked white rice. I prefer to enjoy most of the liquid part as a soup before my meal. Then I eat the Potaje over a bed of rice as my main meal. Filling and very healthy as seen below.
Potaje – Health Benefits of the Beans
Beans have been described as the perfect food source, It’s practically a complete nutritional diet based on the following healthy ingredients:
Protein
Protein is a vital nutrient that plays a key role in maintaining and repairing the body. Beans are high in amino acids, the building blocks of protein. There are 20 amino acids and nine of these are essential.
Vital Nutrients
Beans contain several vital nutrients, including folate. This nutrient is essential for overall health, to make healthy red blood cells.
Fibre
Beans are high in fibre. For example 1/2 cup of black beans provides about 14 g of fiber, which is over half an adult’s daily requirement for fiber. This aids in reducing the risk of heart disease by cleaning cholesterol from the blood vessels. Also replacing the lower fat alternative to meat is good for the heart.
Reduce Cancer Risk
This is due to the high levels of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents in beans. Black beans have been found to have the highest antioxidant activity.
Reduces Risk of Diabetes
Beans may help stabilize blood glucose levels or even prevent diabetes. The high fiber content in beans can help lower blood glucose.
Liver Health
Beans can help prevent fatty liver. Treatment of fatty liver disease is based on weight loss and controlling blood sugars. As well, reducing blood levels of fats, such as triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or bad cholesterol, is good for the liver. And again, replacing higher fat animal proteins with beans is a good step towards better liver health.
Weight Maintenance
When a person eats beans, the fiber and healthful starches they contain can help create a feeling of fullness and satisfaction. Therefore, this controls appetite which is helpful in good weight maintenance.
“Cuban” Potaje Recipe
Besides not adding sugar to the recipe (which is unusual in Cuba!) my wife had other differences. Mainly some things had to be done separately and not all in one pot at once!! Apparently, according to her, the taste difference is significant. For me, I like them both. However, the “experts” I agree would be from Cuba in this case.
Ingredients
The ingredients are similar to the above except no tomato paste and definitely no sugar. Some Cubans do use tomato paste however so you can experiment.
Instructions
The difference in this recipe is to first cook the beans in the pressure cooker along with the meat. She uses pork such as pork chops cut up and she doesn’t like to use bacon in potaje.
- Cook just the beans in the pressure cooker with the olive oil and water, as above, along with the pork only until the beans are soft.
- Depending on the type of beans 30 to 45 minuted in the pressure cooker until they are soft.
- Sauté the onions, green pepper, cumin, garlic (and tomato paste if you choose to use it) separately with a Tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan.
- Then add the rest of these ingredients to the beans in the pressure cooker when they are finished cooking and cook for another 10 minutes.
Maybe try it each way to see for yourself if the taste suits you best for one or the other. The first method is marginally easier as it skips a step. And enjoy a delicious Cuban dish!! Try it with fried plantains for more Cuban Fair!!
The potaje with black beans is my favorite. This dish also goes well dipped in combination with avocado and tortilla chips. And this can function as a pre-meal snack too!!
Wine Pairing with Black Beans
The saltiness and relatively low acidity of this Cuban Black Beans Dish, especially when made with bacon (a feather in my cap) make this dish particularly wine-friendly. Most people agree that a Fine dry red Wine pairs best.
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