I'm looking at growing more of my own food. It's slow progress but I think I can start up some small indoor potato and tomato patches in the next few weeks as practice. That's well and good; they both have plenty of uses. But I really wouldn't know what to do with any beans I may end up growing. When I think of beans I either think baked (American style, i.e., disgusting and filled with corn syrup) or refried (delicious but greasy and cause for farts).
What's a good bean recipe you like? I have no dietary restrictions. Thank you in advance <3
:bean
I really like a black bean 'salad', also sometimes called 'cowboy caviar'
Here's one recipe: https://www.spendwithpennies.com/cowboy-caviar/
But like a lot of salads, you can kinda do whatever. Definitely recommend a fresh lime dressing of some kind though.
Also, hummus is always good, and I like a similar thing made with white beans and harissa as the base instead of chickpeas and tahini.
Absolutely works as a snak, but TBH, I regularly have both as the main dish, alongside fresh homemade chips or naan, and a side of some kind. But, I do just think the salad is delicious, and am happy to dive into a full plate of it, so YMMV
They don't play well with the traditional western meat, carbohydrate, veggies plate but whenver you make anything that ends up in one pot anyways (barring thin soups)? Just chuck some beans into there. They pair with pretty much everything, provide some nutritional, low cost-filler and some depth.
Personal favorite is parboiled pasta that you finish in the sauce so it soaks shit up real good and then add pre-cooked beans at the end to just heat them up. Pasta and Beans honestly pair incredibly well.
I'll put a can of black or kidney beans into a food processor and pulse to a paste for tomato soup.
For a tomato soup that seems more just like a bowl of pureed beans. Unless there's more ingredients (of course I would love to know and make it)
That's for a large pot of soup that usually lasts me most of the week. I also pulse some celery, carrots, maybe mushrooms and saute all of that in olive oil for about 20 minutes before adding two large cans of tomato paste and one of minced tomatoes, and a half cup of sugar, add seasoning to taste and then cook for another 30 minutes.
Try white beans with a shitload of garlic, some onion, loads of parsley. Adjust viscosity via the aquafaba.
Such a great dressing for a load of salads
Black bean recipe I got in Cuba:
- 2.5 cups dried black beans
- 9 cups water -1.5 cups onion diced -1.5 cups green bell pepper diced
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp salt (DO NOT ADD UNTIL THE END)
- 4 tbl spoons olive oil
- 3 tbl spoons white wine vinegar
- 3/4 cup dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons sugar
Let beans soak overnight and discard the water.
Take beans and bring to a boil in 9 cups of water with the lid off.
Reduce to a simmer and add 2 tblespoons of olive oil to prevent foaming.
Simmer for ~1.5-2 hours or until tender.
Mince or mash your garlic using a mortar and pestle.
Sautee your onions and bell pepper in remaining olive oil until translucent over medium heat in a Dutch oven or large pan, add garlic, cumin, and oregano and cook for a minute.
Mash 1-2 cups of your cooked beans (I use an immersion blender).
Add beans and water to your onions/bell peppers/garlic. Add vinegar, wine, sugar, and bay leaf.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
Discard bay leaf and add salt to taste.
Garnish with raw onion and/or cilantro and serve over rice.
I also make Chana Masala and Red Beans and Rice omit the meat if you're vegan/veg.
Pretty much the way everyone cooks beans in Brazil, sans the wine. I also cook some bacon+sausage along with the onions, garlic and bell pepper. You can use the bacon fat to sautee the vegetables and skip the olive oil.
If you have a pressure cooker then all the better, because it takes the beans ~20 minutes to cook instead of 2 hours.
I am stoked to be trying Anasazi beans for the first time this evening, will report back
:bean: Anasazi bean report: fantastic legume, has a bit of sweetness to it, very silky. Used a pressure cooker. A+ bean experience, do recommend.
To reduce farts, soak the beans overnight in twice their volume of water plus 1-2 teaspoons of baking soda. If you have the opportunity to replace the water halfway through the soaking process, even better.
Discard that water and give them a rinse before cooking.
Oh yeah, dried beans. Now that you mentioned it, I have no clue if you can soak fresh beans or not.
I like boiling shelled soy beans and then sauteeing with sesame oil, seeds and salt, maybe soy sauce if I'm feeling fancy.
Oh that's different, I'll have to try that if I want to mix it up!
i generally only like black beans. i eat them all the time.
the basics of black beans is black beans & cumin
from there you can branch out.
mexican would be adding stuff like chili powder, onion, rice, cayenne or tapatio, corn, avocado, cilantro, salsa, lime, tomatoes,
more italian could be olive oil, garlic, onion, oregano, mozzarella, parm, cherry tomatoes, basil
i've been doing buddha bowls since covid. i basically will take a shit lot of mixed salad (bulk bought in those giant bags or plastic boxes), throw into a popcorn bowl, add salad dressing, then add random shit like black beans, garbanzo beans, literally any type of vegetable, tofu, protein, rice or noodles, anything for a crunch: tortilla chips, crunchy onion, etc. you basically just add a ton of shit into a giant popcorn-sized bowl and put low cal dressing on it.
for lunch today i had salad mix, black beans, cabbage, carrots, red onion, crunched tortilla chips, brown rice, lime, and a yogurt based cilantro dressing
All of that variety will be a really helpful basis moving forward, thank you!
If you are lazy you can put split red lentils and rice into a rice cooker at the same time and they will cook together.
Use vege stock instead of water and basically add the recommended amount as if it were all rice. You can add or subtract if you want it drier or gloopier.
It's the cheapest, simplest and least complicated meal I could imagine.
Add some hit sauce or whatever else you want for flavour
Foul Mudammas (incredible as part of a spread with flatbread). Hands down the best bean dish.
Also good:
Rice and Peas
Pasta e removedioli (best with Borlotti imo)
here's my generic semi-spicy/smoking bean recipe that's good just in soft tortilla shells or eaten on rice.
- use any bean maybe except kidneys. i like black beans best for this.
- can of chipolte peppers in adobo sauce, either chopped kind or whole.
- half can of any kind of cheap jar salsa. the imported mexican rojo stuff is really nice
- fresh or dried onions
- little brown sugar or raw sugar
- salt in any form, about 1 tsp
- 1 cup of water
do whatever you do to prep (i do the dry beans, boil, let cool and sit for a few hrs. then drain and start the cooking) literally throw everything together in one pot bring to boil, simmer for quite awhile. also would work in a crock pot.
i prefer to cook it down and add more water a few times. i like it to be kind of thick and sticky so it 's good on tortillas. but either way just cook until beans are soft.i feel like all the best bean recipes are stewpot ones, just chucking a whole bunch of ingredients in a pot and letting them simmer for a while until everything is soaked with flavour. theres endless possibilities for these sorts of things, but heres a couple i make all the time that i can vouch for:
mushroom and kidney bean coconut curry
one and two good chili recipes (ignore the vegetarian label, its just the optional sour cream and you can get vegan sour cream at the supermarket anyway)
Aw fuck yeah I've been vaguely wanting to make my own chili for a bit now!
Cold Butterbean salad: Butterbean, thinly sliced shallots, thyme, salt, olive oil, a bit of fresh lemon juice.
Edit: and a little finely chopped parsley is real nice in there too, you can also add spinach
Cannelini beans, kale, onions, garlic, white wine, and some chicken-less broth. Mash the mix a bit before serving, then top with homemade croutons and a drizzle of olive oil.