Viva Vegan Venezuelan Black Beans with Panela

One of the reasons I wanted to make this recipe for Venezuelan Black Beans was the fact that the recipe used Panela.    Panela is unrefined whole cane sugar.  Some of you may remember that I picked up a a handsome bar of Panela (see below) when I went to the Eden Project a couple of months back. 

I'm planning a few other recipes with the panela, but if any of you have any other suggestions, please do share.  

I adapted the recipe for the Venezuelan Black Beans from Viva Vegan.  I even made the sofrito with onions and green peppers.  I am not going to type up the recipe here, even with my tinkering and will just say, go on treat yourself to the cookbook Viva Vegan! by Terry Hope Romero; or borrow it from a friend; or your local library.  

For those of you who have Viva Vegan and have made this recipe, what did you think of it?! I would like to know.