Cooking > legumes > Beans >

/tag/legumes

For my bean curry, I did this:

1. Bring to a boil
2. Empty and refill the water, washing the beans thoroughly
3. Bring to a boil, simmer for ~2 hours
4. Wash thoroughly, twice, ensuring they are cooled down

5. Soak in water overnight

How to soak and cook beans and legumes ∞

https://web.archive.org/web/20060322042323/http://veggietable.allinfo-about.com/techniques/soakbeans.html

Beans and legumes are an excellent source of protein and a staple of many vegetarian diets. The drawback is that they take a long time to prepare, but once you know the techniques, you’ll find it’s not difficult at all.

Washing Beans and Legumes

Before using beans and legumes, rinse them thoroughly under cool water, then sort through them for any stones or other debris. If using lentils, mung beans, or split peas, skip the soaking section and go right to the cooking instructions. If using anything other kind of beans, continue to the next step: soaking.

Soaking Beans and Legumes

All dry beans and legumes except lentils, mung beans, and split peas should be soaked before cooking. Soaking shortens the cooking time and makes the beans more digestible. To soak, cover the washed beans with four times their volume of water, then choose one of these soaking techniques.

1. Normal soak: Leave the beans to soak for 4-8 hours. This is the traditional and healthier method of soaking beans. (If you put them on to soak at night, they’ll be waiting for you whenever you’re ready the next day.)

2. Quick soak: Bring the beans to a boil for one minute, cover, and let sit for one hour.

The beans are soaked once they are uniformly tender.

After soaking, you have the choice of 1. draining the soaking water, rinsing the beans, and cooking with fresh water, or 2. cooking with the soaking water. The former reduces flatulence, while the latter provides more nutrients.

Cooking Beans and Legumes

Whether reusing soaking water or adding fresh, there should be twice as much water as beans. Boil furiously, uncovered, for ten minutes. Cover, lower heat, and simmer for 1-2 hours, until tender.

Tips

• 1 c dry beans yields 2-2½ c cooked. Unless otherwise stated, the amounts given in my recipes refer to the cooked volume.
• Salt can disrupt the cooking, so should not be added while soaking or during the first hour of cooking.

• Excessive heat can make soaking beans ferment, so when it’s hot out, put soaking beans in the fridge.

Notes ∞

• How to Cook Dried Beans – The Right Way – For Maximum Nutrition

  • by Mary’s Nest
• https://web.archive.org/web/20200204011823/http://www.bloatingtips.co.uk:80/blog/2014/06/how-to-eat-lentils-without-bloating.html
• https://web.archive.org/web/20200203124413/http://veganheath.info:80/lentils-not-just-for-hippies
• https://whatscookingamerica.net/vegetables/driedbeantip.htm [ 1 ]

• https://web.archive.org/web/20071124011027/www.wildhealthfood.com/how-to-cook-dried-beans

Footnotes

1. was https://whatscookingamerica.net/Vegetables/driedbeantip.htm [ ↩ ]