Recently, my niece and her husband who live in Dallas took me to one of their favorite local restaurants, Gloria’s. It’s the kind of place they pop into at the end of the workday or on a weekend for last minute plans. They talk about it so much I wanted to try. It was really good Latin food. They told me that the famous dish at Gloria’s is the black bean dip that is served at every table with salsa and chips. And they asked me if I could recreate it. A little time on the googler taught me that it is a well-kept secret, many people are begging for the recipe to no avail and lots of people are making copycats with mixed success. So I went to work with some of that information. At some point I realized I hadn’t really eaten enough at the restaurant to make a judgment call, but with some tinkering and fiddling, I ended up with a really easy and really delicious black bean dip. Is it like Gloria’s? I can’t be sure, but you will nevertheless really like this dip.
What I remember of the dip was its texture – it wasn’t the thick, chunky kind you usually find, but a bit looser and runnier. Maybe more of the consistency of the queso we ordered. I loved that. It was also a very deep black color, which makes me think the reason none of the copycats quite hit the mark is because Gloria’s undoubtedly cooks their black beans from scratch with a well-seasoned pot liquor in the mix. But that is not my aim here. I reserve some of the liquid from the beans, the diced tomatoes and chilis and the jalapenos to loosen things up. A touch of sour cream tempers it all and smooths it out. I use fire roasted Ro-tel tomatoes and chilis for a little extra flavor, but the regular kind will work. I generally buy the pickled jalapenos labeled as sliced for nachos so I can add a few sliced to the top of the dip. You will have some extra Ro-tel and jalapenos, which can be great additions to the rest of a Latin meal, can be blended up with some more tomatoes for a salsa, or melted with cheese for some queso. Put the leftovers in airtight containers and store in the fridge.
Ingredients
2 (15-ounce) cans of black beans
½ cup fire roasted diced tomatoes and green chilis
¼ cup sliced pickled jalapenos
¼ cup cilantro leaves
2 Tablespoons lime juice
2 Tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Several grinds of black pepper
Directions
- Have a measuring jug ready for the reserved canned liquids. Drain the black beans, reserving about ¼ cup of the liquid. Place the beans in a food processor and process to a paste. Drain the diced tomatoes, reserving the liquid and add them to the processor. Add the sliced jalapenos and scoop out about ½ Tablespoon of their liquid into the measuring jug. Add them to the processor, then add the cilantro, roughly torn, lime juice, sour cream, cumin, salt and pepper. Process until smooth, then slowly, with the motor running, drizzle in the reserved liquids until the dip is smooth and very easily dippable – the consistency of sour cream, not a thick, chunky dip. If you need to, you can add some water to thin it out.
- Scoop into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for a few hours to let the flavors marry, but overnight is fine. Serve garnished with a dollop of sour cream, some chopped cilantro, a few jalapeno slices and lime wedges for squeezing. Scoop it up with tortilla chips.
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