I made a delicious Mexican style dish today, with a chipotle sauce, and some pintos, along with a butternut squash, diced up, and simmered with them. I started by soaking 1 oz of dried tomatoes (about a lb equivalent) in 1½ c hot water. Then I put 1¼ c dried pintos in the Instant Pot, with 4 c water, ¼ tsp baking soda, and about a half tb of salt. I set that to cook 20 min, then release naturally - a little short, but it simmered a while later. Meanwhile, I pan roasted 8 cloves of garlic in a skillet, over medium heat, and toasted 3 moritas in the pan, pressing on each side about 10-12 sec/side, until blistered and slightly smoking, then put in to soak with the tomatoes. When the garlic was softened, I let it cool, peeled it, and put it in the Vitamix with the tomatoes, peppers, soaking liquid, 1 tsp Mexican oregano, 1 tsp of that coriander/cumin powder (something I make to use in my Indian cooking, but works well in the Mexican dishes, too), and about a tsp of salt, then blended to a thick paste. Then I rinsed out the container with about 1/2 c water. Then I cut up the butternut squash, and diced a medium yellow onion, and put it into the wok with about 2 tb olive oil, to sauté over medium heat. By now, the beans are finished and I strained them, and let them drain.
When the onion started getting a little color, I added the sauce, plus half of one of those Mexican chocolate disks, chopped up, turned the heat up a little, and cooked, scraping the pan constantly for about 7 minutes - until the sauce is very thick, and the spatula leaves a trail in the pan. Then, I added about 1½ c water, the butternut cubes, and the pintos, corrected the salt, and simmered about 15 minutes (the squash was still crunchy), then another 15 minutes, and it was done just right.
If I had planned this in advance, I would have gotten the tortillas out of the freezer this morning, but I only have those for tomorrow, now. I only had the last two of the last pack sort of broken up, which I toasted the pieces of, and broke them up more, and tore up the lettuce, as well - whatever works!
1 oz dried tomatoes, and 3 mirita peppers, soaking in 1 1/2 c water. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
Those tomatoes and Morita peppers, ground to a very thick paste. I rinsed the container out with about 1/2 c water. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
Chipotle sauce, ready to cook down. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
Cooked down chipotle sauce, showing the thickness. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
The pre-cooked pintos, peeled and diced butternut, and about 1 1/2 c water, added to the cooked down sauce, to simmer. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
Here's the mix after simmering 15 minutes. The butternut was still quite crunchy, so I simmered it about as long again. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
Here's the finished dish, after about 30 minutes simmering, getting darker and thicker. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
The finished dish, with the torn up tortilla pieces, with some lettuce to use in pieces. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr