how would you cook beans
Hi everyone,
Beans have been taken as an important source of protein when I'm on a diet.
At first, I hated the idea of having beans in my diet, but I really love it now.
Kidney beans are great because it has pretty balanced distribution of carbs and protein (50% vs 50%). There's also a lot of attentions coming to the benefits of soybeans.
In these days, I've made a lot of mexican-style (kind of) bean soups which are really hearty and tasty. Wondering if anyone has other interesting recipes?
Mexican-inspired bean soup with no added oil and no added sugar.
- 300g kidney beans + 100g mixed beans (black, soy, pinto)
- 5 large tomato, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 carrot, diced
- 5- 30 bird's eye chilies
- water (just some more than enough to cover everything. Most ingredients will shrink and release the water anyway. )
Directions: Put everything into a large pot, bring to a boil for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover it tight, and come back 10 hours after. I like the way to cook it because it's safe, easy, and almost attention-free.
Serving: enough for 2-3 day consumption ,
I put it in a tupperware and take a scoop of it whenever I want to it. ( I take 6 small meals a day, 3 of them are bean soups, the rest is chicken breast, egg whites , veggies.)
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DiningDiva
Jun 26, 2011 11:01 PM
I like to use beans in place of rice in a rice bowl...beans, protein (usually chicken), veggie topped with homemade salsa. If I'm really ambitious, for breakfast I'll finely dice some carrot and par cook it, then throw it in with cooked beans, nuke til warm and top with scrambled egg whites and homemade salsa.
Check out the recipes here -http://ranchogordo.com/ - lots of different beans and bean recipes
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The Professor
Jun 26, 2011 10:59 PM
Beans are great food...lentils and canary beans are probably my two favorite ones.
If you're eating a lot of beans in your diet I wouldn't emphasize soybeans though. Lately I've read more negative stuff about soy than positive, although the articles I've read do go on to say that fermented soy products are a healthier choice if you are going to use soy.But of course, as with all food choices, you need to decide for yourself. Google around on the topic...it's worth at least looking into.
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Cornbread and beans for dinner tonight. I use bacon and then saute lots onions, garlic, some jalapeno and diced polish sausage in the bacon fat, then add maybe 1/2 cup of Goya sofrito, beans, and the liquid is 1/2 beef broth and 1/2 water. Also added today some cut up leftover pork chop and a few pieces of deli ham that I needed to use up plus a meaty pork butt bone that was in my freezer. I season with bay leaves and cumin. s & p. make it semi wet, soupy but not soup and serve over cornbread with a thick slice of raw onion and a slice of tomato on top. Today I used great northern but pink beans are good too.
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chef chicklet
Jun 25, 2011 12:03 PM
Looking at your recipe, I don't see any spices, or flavor enhancement except the garlic and onion. Every bean soup or bean dish of mine is loaded with spices while cooking and condiments galore afterward. I'm a crock pot believer too, I also love the slow cooker, it extracts and really blends the flavors,and then of course I have to mash a few to get it thick. Sorry if you have diet restrictions that will limit a person. Spices like cumin, thyme and oregano etc, make great tasting beans. The condiments for me are as important as the pot of beans. I'd probably overwhelm you with my beans!
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re: chef chicklet
you're right that most bean soups come with various herbs. The idea of putting cumin in a soup, however seems to be going too far from my taste buds. (i don't really get used to drinking cumin and much herbs in any soups).
My diet plan allows to take herbs but i'm only okay with coriander and black peppers. i like it either way.
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greygarious
Jun 25, 2011 05:13 AM
Mujadarra! http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/744475
Soak and cook large dry lima beans until the skins are starting to split. Canned, these are called butter beans and do NOT taste like the smaller, green lima. Use these instead of spuds in your favorite potato salad recipe - always best to splash the vinegar onto the beans when they are still hot (as Cooks Illustrated recommends in its potato salad recipes). With your eyes closed, you'd think you were eating PS made from skin-on red potatoes.
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Basic Minestrone Soup
This recipe usually produces a soup that is thick like stew (stoup?). It is just to be used as a guide and not chiseled in stone. Variations on this theme are encouraged to prevent boredom from consuming a bowl of this stoup each morning. Yes MORNING! It helps keep my cholesterol down as well as my blood glucose under control.
Ingredients
¾ cup each of 2 kinds of dried beans*
Olive oil**, enough to cover the bottom of the stockpot
1 medium to large onion, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 bell pepper, any color, diced
Several garlic cloves, minced
⅓ cup lentils
⅓ cup split peas
⅓ cup barley
1 28-oz. tomato puree or crushed tomatoes
1 very small head of cabbage (about 1½ pounds), chopped***
Salt and ground black pepper to taste (I don’t add either, tomato sauce contains salt)****Preparation
Examine beans for foreign matter and discard such matter. Place in a small stockpot (3-quart capacity). Soak the beans in water for about 6 hours or overnight. Drain soaking water, add more water, stir and drain one more time. Add plenty of water to beans, bring to a boil, turn heat to simmer and partially cover pot. Simmer for about ½ hour, turn off heat, and cover pot.
Add oil to a 5-quart stock pot preheated at medium heat. When oil shimmers in the pot, add onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic. Sauté (or sweat) the vegetables until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring often.
Add cooked beans and the liquid in which they were cooked to the vegetables. Rinse the lentils, split peas and barley in a strainer before adding to the mixture. Note that barley expands upon cooking so do not use too much. Add the tomato to pot and stir well. Add the cabbage to the pot and again, stir well. Allow the soup to simmer for at least 45 minutes to make sure that the beans, lentils, peas and barley are fully cooked.
Makes 6 to 8 servings (for breakfast)
*Navy beans, pinto beans, red beans, garbanzo beans, etc.
**Other oil such as canola oil can be substituted.
***Any cruciferous vegetable (broccoli, kale, collards, Chinese cabbage, etc.) can be used.
Any frozen package(s) can be used instead of fresh.
**** I use any source of ground hot red pepper such as cayenne or other variety.Note: Sometimes other ingredients such as leftovers are included like meat gravy, chard or kale reserved midribs that have been removed before cooking, sometimes leftover homemade vegetable stock and the puree made from the overcooked vegetables, etc. This recipe is not etched in stone. Be creative.
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I love beans. I just did garbanzos.
I soak them overnight in water seasoned with granulated garlic and a bit of ginger (supposed to eliminate some of the gassiness). Then I season water with a generous pinch of kosher salt, more ginger, more granulated garlic, cumin and a half onion and bring it to a boil. I add the soaked beans and drop the flame to a very slow simmer and leave the pot on, covered, while I go about my business. When the simmer is very slow it's hard to overcook them. When they're the texture I like -- I like them a bit al dente -- I take them off the heat and store them in the fridge for salads, hummus and just snacking.
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We generally soak/cook the beans ahead of time, the start the whole process over to make the gravy (these are pinto beans). There's generally a fat in the original bean cooking (bacon, salt pork), that get's picked out later. Beans then get reheated with diced tomato, onion, and several whole branches of cilantro and a whole serrano pepper that are also pulled out before serving. Salt to taste the whole time, of course. Add bean water/boiling water to get to right consistency. This is always better the next day, of course, but it's not bad the day of.
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re: gilintx
couldn't agree more. The gravy always tastes better in a day after and saved some electricity if it's soaked before cooking. I actually will also soak them (usually 3 hours- overnight) but i found that when cooking kidney beans, the cooking time i can save isn't that obvious.
I avoid adding fat because of my strict diet plan. i have some other sources of fat (chicken breast or lean cut). I will take a scoop out and cook them with the lean meat just a few minutes before i have my meal.
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