Black Bean Tacos with Avocado
Charred tortillas, warm cumin beans, cold avocado. Fifteen minutes, start to table.
- 5 minprep
- 4servings
you have fifteen minutes and no plan
you are feeding people who need it to be filling on its own
The difference between a taco and a folded sandwich is thirty seconds on a naked flame. Put the tortilla straight on the hob ring, let it blister and start to smell toasted, flip it. Everything else is warming and mashing: half the beans crushed so they hold together, half left whole for texture.
What you buy
- 1 pack corn tortillas
- 2 cans black beans, drained
- 3 avocados
- 1 lime
- 0.5 bunch cilantro
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 0.5 tsp salt
Warm the tortillas last and eat them immediately. They go leathery if they wait.
What you do
- Warm the beans in a pan with the cumin and a splash of water, mashing about half of them so they hold together.
- Char the tortillas straight on the hob ring, fifteen seconds a side.
- Avocado, beans, coriander, lime. Nothing else needed.
Three things that decide it
- Char the tortillas on a live flame. Thirty seconds is the difference between a taco and a wrap.
- Mash about half the beans. Whole ones fall out the moment the tortilla is lifted.
- Cumin into the pan before the water, so it toasts instead of boiling.
If you have not got it
- Corn tortillas
- Flour, charred the same way. Corn is worth seeking out for this one.
- Black beans
- Pinto, or refried. Kidney beans are too firm to mash well.
- Avocado
- Soured cream, or Greek yogurt sharpened with lime.
Ahead, and afterwards
The beans keep three days and reheat in two minutes with a splash of water. Char the tortillas to order, because reheated ones go leathery and there is no way round it.
If it went wrong
- They fell apart
- Not enough of the beans were mashed, or they were too wet. Cook the liquid off.
- The tortillas cracked
- They were cold. Fifteen seconds a side on a flame makes them pliable.
- Bland
- Salt the beans as they warm, and do not skip the lime. It is doing the work of three ingredients.
Three ways to change it
A spoon of chipotle in adobo mashed through the beans.
A fried egg on top, and it becomes breakfast.
Fry the folded tacos two minutes a side for something closer to a taco dorado.
Questions people ask
Can I use canned beans?
Yes, and this recipe assumes you will. Drain them but do not rinse all the starch away, because that starch is what makes the mashed half hold together.
How do I stop corn tortillas breaking?
Heat them. Cold corn tortillas crack because the starch is set; fifteen seconds a side on a flame or a dry pan lets them fold without splitting.
Are these filling enough for dinner?
Three each with avocado, for most people. For bigger appetites add rice or an egg rather than more tacos.
Cooking it for a different number
Written for 4. For two, halve the 1 pack corn tortillas and leave the seasonings as they are — they scale badly by arithmetic and well by taste. For six or more, add half again rather than double, and use two trays or two pans instead of crowding one.
Or change the number once and let the shopping list follow. That is the one bit of this a person should never do by hand.
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