1. Sort and rinse beans. Put beans in a dutch oven and cover with cool water to 3 or 4 inches over the beans. Soak overnight or bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes, remove from heat, cover and 1 hour. Drain and rinse beans and return to dutch oven with fresh water about 2 inches over the beans. Add one onion half with skin, bay leaf and baking soda to the dutch oven containing the beans and water. NO SALT YET! Using high heat bring beans to a boil then lower heat to medium high a and cook 20-25 minutes or until beans are al dente. Remove from the heat completely and season with salt, to taste. Do NOT add salt prior to this as beans will stay tough. 2. Meanwhile, make seasoning paste: With scissors, cut stems from chilies and open them down one side to discard seeds and any large membrane. Put chilies in a bowl with very hot water to cover well and weigh down with something to keep them submerged. Soak for at least 15 minutes or until you are ready for them. Skip if using canned chipotles. 3. In an oven proof skillet with NO oil or spray add one onion, quartered, and jalapeno. Broil about 5-7 minutes or so until blackened and charred. Remove from pan, remove seeds and stem from jalapeno when cool. 4. While cooling toast cumin and coriander seeds In same skillet, wiped clean if needed, just until they begin to release their fragrance. 5. Drain chilies and discard soaking water. Toss chilies, toasted seeds, charred onion and jalapeno, garlic, oregano, 1 tsp salt, cumin, coriander, peppercorns, cloves and half of the broth. Blend until smooth, adding a little more broth if needed to get the mixture moving. 6. Heat oil in the same skillet until and add puréed mixture, Sounds weird but trust me! Cover with a lid to keep it from splashing and burning you and making a huge mess. Cook 5 -10 minutes or so, until fragrant and slightly thicker. Stir often to keep it from burning and be careful it does not splash on you. 7. Drain beans again and remove bay leaf and onion. Add all the paste to the beans along with the beer, rest of broth, tomatoes with their juice, celery, carrot and the remaining onion half, roughly chopped. 8. Allow to simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes or so or until the beans are completely done and veggies are tender. You can add a little water, broth or better yet, beer, if you wish. 9. Stir in chopped cilantro, lime zest and juice. Taste now and season with more salt if desired. Enjoy! 10. Note: You can make this a main dish by tossing in about 1/2 cup rendered chorizo or other sausage or cooked meat if desired or leave vegetarian. Either way this is great over brown rice or even white rice. 11. Note: This freezes very well. I pour two cups into a ziploc bag, seal, label and lay flat. Once frozen you can stack them up on top of each other. Then thaw and reheat and serve over rice if desired. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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