Fast refried beans in the pressure cooker

1 lb dry pinto beans or 1/2 lb dry pinto beans and 1/2 lb black beans
8 cups water (or substitute a can of chicken broth for the same amount of water for extra flavor)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2  tsp chili powder 

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 

1/4 tsp black pepper or 1 drop Black Pepper Essential Oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin or 1 drop Cumin Essential Oil
4 1/2 tsp oil (2 tsp of oil per cup of beans)

Rinse and sort through beans and pick out any broken, shriveled beans or rocks/ pieces of dirt. You can soak them overnight if you want. It will reduce the amount of cooking time to 25 min instead of 35. But this is the beauty of the pressure cooker. You don't have to soak the beans!

Heat oil in your pressure cooker. If you have an electric one, put it to the Saute option. If not, just heat it on the stove top. You need 4 1/2 tsp of oil. Oil is a necessary ingredient in pressure cooking beans because it helps prevent them from foaming and blocking your vent.

If you want your beans really authentic you should use lard for your oil. That is what real refried beans are made with. I happened to have some lard from some tortillas I made so I used half lard and half...

Saute your onions and garlic in the pressure cooker until the onions are translucent

Add spices. Did you notice there is no salt? You do not want to add salt when you are pressure cooking,  you add it after.

Add beans- it's best to only cook 1 lb at a time or depending on the size of your pressure cooker to never fill it more than 1/3 full.

Add water and chicken broth. I just dump my can of chicken broth into a 2 cup measurer and add water to fill since there isn't enough broth to make 2 cups.

Select High Pressure and 35 minutes and hit start. The machine will bring it to pressure then start the cooking time by itself. You don't need to do anything. Isn't technology amazing?

When the time is up, the pressure cooker will beep at you. You have 2 options when you pressure cook. A quick release method- you release all the pressure manually or natural pressure release- you wait for the temperature to drop normally and thereby dropping the pressure too. The type of food dictates which method you use. Beans call for the natural pressure release. Just wait until the pressure indicator drops. That usually takes 20-30 minutes. 

Drain your beans and use a potato masher to mash your beans up. You may want to reserve some of the liquid to add back it if you want them a little runnier. 

This is when you add in your salt. You'll want to do it to taste and probably more than you think. I used almost 1/2 Tbls. Refried beans are supposed to be salty, it's one of the things that make them taste good.