1 cup dried black beans, picked over and rinsed (do not soak)

water to cover by an inch or two

1 teaspoon salt

1 small onion or 2 large shallots, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ - 1 red bell pepper, diced

1 - 2 ribs celery, finely diced

1 ½ jalapeno peppers, de-seeded and diced - optional

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon cumin

Rinse the beans well - you don't want grit or dust in your finished dish.  Also give them a quick look-over to make sure there aren't any cunningly black little rocks in there - depends where you get your beans, but sometimes you find little tiny stones in dried beans.

Cover rinsed beans with fresh water, up to about two inches above the beans. Bring to a gentle simmer* and cook until tender, stirring occasionally. This can take as little as an hour or as long as two or two and a half hours, depending on how old your beans are. Play it by ear, but don't let the beans boil hard, or they will split and turn quite mushy.  Most of the time, I find that dried black beans are ready in just one hour.

Note that if you have hard water (or beans of dubious age), a scant pinch of baking soda added to the water when you begin to cook the beans will help soften them more quickly.

While the beans simmer, mince up the vegetables ingredients and keep in a bowl until needed - when the beans are tender.  For convenience, I always add the spices to the bowl of vegetables.  Keep the salt and the vinegar separate.

Boil up some water in a kettle and keep on standby. Check on the beans frequently, topping up from the kettle as they absorb the water. Once the beans are tender, add the rest of the ingredients all at once. At first the amount of vegetables will seem to overwhelm the beans, but it cooks down to a beautiful dark sauce.  Simmer for about ½ hour. If the sauce is too thin for your liking, puree or mash a couple of spoonsful of beans with a small amount of liquid, and return to the pot.

If you need additional acidity, consider adding lime juice.

Top with chopped cilantro, black pepper and hot sauce and serve over rice for a wonderful, healthy dinner.

Another flavour option is chipotle - add a couple of diced chipotles in adobo or powdered chipotle with the other ingredients.  Don't add salty ingredients to the beans until they are tender, or their skins will be tough and the interior will never get creamy.

This dish is also very tasty the next day (possibly even better) and freezes very well.  So, always make a full batch, or a double batch, and save yourself some labour.

*Bubbles should just barely break the surface of the water.