Basement Dweller Bean Dip
In one of my past lives I worked in a low-ceilinged, dingy basement kitchen making dips and tapenades. We made such high volumes of these sumptuous spreads that we had to use the mother of all hand blenders, or what we dubbed the Bazooka.
This baby was three feet long and it was a workout to lift it up and down and set its thick steel blades on the beans below. A temperamental fellow, it would also tend to give off a faint smoke and the smell of burning metal if used for too long without a break.
This black bean dip is inspired by one of the dips we made in that cavernous kitchen, but with my own tweaks and additions. It also has a little more texture than “the bazooka” would allow (and luckily you can just use a regular hand blender or food processor for it). Be forewarned: the chipotle gives it a smoky, spicy bite, so if you’re afraid of heat, you might want to cut the chipotle down by half.
Prep time 5 minutes
Ingredients
1 tbsp minced chipotle (look for canned chipotle in adobo sauce)
1 medium clove of garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lime
4 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp water (or more as needed)
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp cumin
2 398-ml cans black beans (or 3 cups cooked black beans)
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup loosely packed, chopped, fresh cilantro
¼ cup red onion, chopped fine
Directions
Combine the chipotle, garlic, lime juice, olive oil, water, maple syrup, and cumin in a bowl (or in the bowl of a food processor if not using a hand blender). Blend until smooth.
Now rinse and drain the canned black beans and add them to the bowl. Blend together until fairly smooth, leaving them a bit chunky if desired.
Stir in salt and pepper to taste, as well as the red onion and cilantro.