Black Bean Tostadas

This is the recipe I came home to over and over my first year in Baja. I learned to cook here by walking to the mercado every couple of days and reverse-engineering whatever looked good — and black beans, queso fresco, and corn tortillas were always good. So this is what I made.

I use whole black beans instead of refried pintos because they hold their shape, take seasoning faster, and don’t need lard. The trick is to under-mash them. You want the beans to read as beans, not as a smear. About half-mashed gets you a bite that’s creamy enough to stay on the tostada and chunky enough to feel like a meal.

Buy the tostada shells if you have a tienda nearby that fries them fresh. If not, brush corn tortillas with oil, hit them with salt, and bake at 400°F for 8 minutes. They’ll never be quite as good as the ones with masa fingerprints on them, but they’ll be close.

Don’t skip the lime.