Wash & Soak beans in warm water and leave to soak overnight. Soaking shorten the cooking time. Soaking is usually done the night before. Soaking is optional. Alternatively, beans can be cooked in pressure cooker, for a quicker result, slow cooker, for a lesser mess or on a traditional stove, cooking time would be around 1-1.5 hours or until beans are soft and tender.

Cooking the beans: use half onion. Cut into chucks. See pic below. Put beans into a pot. Add water to completely cover the beans, 3-4 inches above the beans. Add bay leaves & cut onion into the same pot.

Cover the pot. Over medium heat, cook the beans and bring to a rolling boil. Leave to boil for 2-3 mins. Next, lower down the heat and simmer for 45 mins or until beans are tender but not mushy. Lesser cooking time due to soaking. Add a tsp of salt when beans are almost tender.

When simmering is happening, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Down below are pictures of protein we have. Classic mexican uses bacon with some fat 🥓 diced the protein, remove chorizo from its casing.

Prep the veggies. See pic below for reference.

If using meat with fat: cook meat on a hot pan. Rendered fat from the meat would be used in cooking the rest. However, our meat, turkey bacon, has less fat. We add oil (you can add or use any kind of additional fat). Over high heat, Fry the bacon well. Add chorizos. Fully cook the meat. Transfer out from the pan, leaving the oil or fat inside the pan.

In the same pan, use the same oil to continue cooking. Add oil if your meat doesn't produce enough fat or oil. Add chopped onion & jalapeños. Sauté until onion is soft and translucent. Then add garlic. Stir for a minute. Add diced sausages or frankfurters, IF USING. Cook for another minute or two.

Next, add tomatoes, cilantro and the rest of the seasonings listed on ✅️C. Pour in cooked beans together with its liquid. Note that, beans ready by the time we are done with the prep and cooking the rest of the ingredients. Add 1 cup of any preferred liquid into the beans, water or preferred broth. We use water. Adjust liquid to your preferred amount. Stir everything to mix. Bring to a gentle boil for 5-10 mins to get all the flavour well developed.

Add pickled jalapeños with 1/4 - 1/3 cup of its juice into the pot. Stir. And give it a taste. Adjust seasonings - chicken seasoning, salt, pepper, as needed.