Arepas Handlebar

One of my favorite restaurants/bars in Chicago is the Handlebar. I love everything on the menu but lately I've been especially fond of their Latin-inspired offerings. This dish is a kind of mind-meld of their Black Bean Tostadas and Black Beans Maduro. Their tostadas are a lot like arepas, and their Black Beans Maduro sit on a big plate with lots of sauce and are topped with crispy plantains. No plantains here, though I love them, but the arepas carry the crispy and are super tasty with black beans, salsa roja, guacamole, and sour cream.

I made everything from scratch (well, I didn't sour the cream), so this is a fairly involved dish. In a pinch, you could certainly substitute pre-made salsa, etc.

Arepas
For the arepas, I used the same recipe as before, but substituted shallots for scallions, since I had them on hand.

Salsa Roja
I made the salsa straight from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Sadly it's not available in the Google Books preview, and I'm not going to reprint it here, but I'm sure you got some kind of Big Box Books gift card from your office Secret Santa, right? Buy the book. It's a good buy.

Black Beans
With some variation depending what I have on hand, this is the way I always make black beans. They're tasty and simple. The red pepper adds a slight sweetness and depth to the beans which I really like. You can use canned or dried beans for this. And if you're thinking about doing more with dried beans, here's a great guide on "quick" cooking them.

olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped (or red pepper flakes to taste)
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
2 cups cooked black beans
water
salt

In a medium pot over medium heat, saute the onion, peppers, and garlic in a tablespoon or two of the oil until softened. Stir in spices and cook for 30 seconds more. Add the beans, along with a little water to loosen them in the pot. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or so, until the beans have thickened but not totally broken down. Season to taste with salt.

Guacamole
I used to make guacamole with all kinds of additions. Three different bell peppers, tomatoes, several dried spices. But lately, I've been tending toward a more straightforward version.

1 small clove garlic
salt
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
3 ripe avocados
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
lime juice (1-3 limes, depending on their size)
red pepper flakes

Mince the garlic, then pour a small amount of coarse salt onto it. Using the edge of your knife mash the garlic into the salt to form a paste. (If that doesn't make sense, check out this helpful video).

Place the garlic, onion, and jalapeño in the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Scoop the avocado flesh into the bowl and mash using a fork. Stir in the cilantro, lime juice, more salt, and red pepper flakes to taste.

To keep this for more than a couple hours, place plastic wrap directly onto the guacamole and refrigerate.