Black Bean Picadillo With Chips

15 MINUTES

Classic Cuban picadillo—ground meat flavored with sweet raisins, savory tomatoes, salty olives, and fragrant cinnamon—is the ultimate comfort food. Here, I’ve turned those same flavors into an easy-to-make warm dip that uses black beans in place of the meat (with a hint of soy sauce to add some umami). The result can be eaten warm or cold with tortilla chips.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tablespoons raisins

  Snacking Dinners Georgia Freedman

• ¾ cup (165 g) drained canned diced tomatoes

• 5 pitted green olives

• 1 large garlic clove

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

• 1 cup (165 g) drained cooked or canned black beans

• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

• ¼ teaspoon Japanese soy sauce (such as Kikkoman)

• ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ⅛ teaspoon smoked paprika

• Tortilla chips

PREPARATION:

Roughly chop the raisins and put them into a small bowl with a little warm water to soften for 5 minutes. Roughly chop the tomatoes (to cut the chunks into smaller pieces) and set them aside. Thinly slice the olives and mince the garlic. 

Heat the olive oil in a small nonstick pan over high heat. Drain the raisins and add them and the olives to the pan. Cook, stirring a bit, until some pieces are starting to brown, about 2 minutes. Add the tomato and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the tomato has lost some of its volume and looks a little bit cooked, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the beans, season them with the salt and soy sauce, turn the heat to low, and cook until they’re just warmed, another minute or two. Add the cinnamon and paprika and cook for 30 seconds, stirring, to toast the spices, then transfer the bean mixture to a bowl. Eat the beans warm or at room temperature, with the chips.

Excerpted with permission from Snacking Dinner by Georgia Freedman,  published by ‎Hardie Grant Publishing, April 2025, RRP $30.00 Hardcover.

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