Sweetened Beans and Controversial Toppings

During the holy week/lent/easter it is a tradition in the Dominican Republic to make Habichuelas con Dulce, sweetened beans. Why sweeten the beans? I don't know and neither does the world since this tradition has been around for centuries. If you'd like to read origin theories I found some here. The dessert is made by boiling red beans with evaporated milk, coconut milk, white sweet potato, sugar, and aromatics like nutmeg and cinnamon. This creates a luscious creamy liquid dessert you can drink or eat with a spoon. People usually top it with sweet milk cookies for crunch and eat it cold with a spoon or drink it. Let me make it clear this tradition is serious business. All stores hop on the trend like American companies do on Thanksgiving with pumpkin: Habichuelas con Dulce flavored ice cream, Habichuelas con Dulce flavored frozen yogurt and Habichuelas-con-Dulce-making-kits at the supermarket, it's delicious!

Every household makes some and then shares it with the neighbors and invites people over to taste their recipe during the days off. I recently spent a wonderful afternoon at my dad's house with a family that had brought over their version of the dessert and I am ashamed to say this is the first time I have tried them. Well, liked them haha. I was a picky child and stood my ground that beans shall always be savory but I am now grown and loved loved loved my sweet beans with my controversial topping of choice: cheese. That's right, I like my sweet beans strained, warmed, with a spoon and cubes of Dominican Geo Dutch-style cheese, or queso de hoja (the Dominican version of Mozzarella).

I hope to continue this tradition next year when I'm back home and even share the dessert with coworkers. I like this recipe and I hope you try it at home too, after all it's really easy to make! And there you go, you are now a little more cultured and can understand memes like this:

When you make it please cut your sweet potato into bite-sized pieces!