Indian Spiced Cranberry Beans - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/2 lb cooked cranberry beans (see note at the end of the recipe)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 1/2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 cardamom pods, crushed
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, lightly crushed
1 teaspoon fennel seed, lightly crushed
1 teaspoon coriander seed, lightly crushed
1 serrano chili, sliced
3 plum tomatoes, chopped and drained
salt & freshly ground black pepper
chopped cilantro, for garnish

Preparation

In a soup pot over medium heat, gently warm the beans and their broth.
In a small, heavy skillet over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and saute until soft and fragrant, about 10 minutes.
Raise heat to medium-high, add the cardamom, cumin, fennel, corriander, chile, and tomatoes, and cook , stirring, for 2-3 minutes.
Add the spice mixture to the beans, season to taste with with salt and pepper.
Served garnished with chopped cilantro (optional).
Note:.To cook beans you have 2 options: you can throw them in a crockpot (I usually cook mine this way but with at least double the amount of beans), cover with water by about 2 inches and cook on low all day. Or, soak beans over night in water to cover, rinse, add new water and boil on the stove for about two hours or until soft. Never add salt or acids (such as tomatoes) while cooking beans- it makes them very hard to cook. That includes most stocks! Add the flavors and salt at the end.