Black Bean and Chipotle Dip
I wanted to bring something spooky to a Halloween party we were invited to. Although I have plenty of cobwebs hanging around Chez Flake, I decided to go with something more edible. A can of black beans seemed an appropriate starting point. After all, black is the traditional Halloween color, right?
I dug up my recipe from the cauldron—err, hard drive, but decided it needed more kick. Fortunately, I had a can of chipotle peppers I was saving for a rainy day. Just the thing to add smoky—if not spooky—pizzazz.
This recipe is flexible. I actually added another half can of beans, and adjusted the spiced accordingly. You or your guests may not be heat tolerant, in which case you'd want to hold down the number of peppers. (I used two whole peppers, each equivalent to about a tablespoon.)
I whizzed this up in my food processor (which is what we modern witches use these days) and scooped it into a pepper-shaped dish. Since I was already wearing my costume (yes, I went as a modern witch, in jeans and black turtleneck) I grabbed a bag of blue corn tortilla chips, and nipped over to the party on my broom—err, Mercedes.
May your Halloween be as trouble free.
2 cups black beans, rinsed if using canned
2 tablespoons tomato paste (I used sun-dried tomato paste)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
2-3 chipotle peppers, canned in adobo sauce
juice of 1 lime
2-4 tablespoons water
salt and pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Whiz until blended smooth, adding enough water as it mixes so that it's not too thick to scoop with chips. (It's a good idea to test a few chips while you're whizzing to make sure it's not too thick—once I left out the water and it was too stiff to dip.)
Add salt if needed, and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature with a garnish of cilantro (coriander) if desired, and with tortilla chips.
Notes on ingredients: I used canned chipotle peppers. You could also use rehydrated dry chipotle peppers, or even powdered chipotle pepper. If you can't find chipotle pepper, use two teaspoons of red pepper and increase the smoked paprika. Waitrose carries a chipotle paste, but it's a combination of peppers, tomatoes, onion and sugar. It's not nearly as strong (i.e. hot), but if you used the whole jar it might be equally spicy. Red pepper varies in strength, so if you're using that instead of chipotles, check the heat setting before adding too much.