How to cook beans correctly and quickly
The first step in the cooking process is checking the expiration date. The longer the beans sit, the longer they will take to cook. If stored for more than one year, they dry out. It is almost impossible to cook old legumes deliciously.
The second stage is soaking. Paradoxically, this significantly saves cooking time. In addition, soaked beans are softer and healthier due to the release of nutrients into them when they swell. It is optimal to plan a dish with beans in advance and soak the beans the night before.
The process ends, of course, with cooking. Red beans, soaked for 6 to 12 hours, due to their softness, cook in about half an hour. White beans will take 50-60 minutes. A few minutes before removing the beans from the stove, salt them. Ready beans can be stored in the refrigerator for no more than 4 days.
How to cook without soaking: tricks
Without soaking, the beans will cook for about 3-4 hours. To quickly cook beans without soaking, use simple techniques: changing the water, briefly soaking and adding vegetable oil and soda.
Changing water
In order for unsoaked beans to cook faster, housewives resort to replacing the water during the cooking process. You need to replace the broth with fresh one at least once, and preferably two or three times. How to proceed:
- Place the washed beans in a saucepan and fill with water so that it rises 3 cm above the beans.
- Bring to a boil, without adding salt, and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Pour off the boiling water and add fresh cold water.
- Wait until it boils again and repeat steps 2-3.
- After changing the water three times, cook the beans for about an hour.
Another trick is to add cold water during the cooking process. There is no need to drain anything, just add 2-3 tbsp. fresh water several times after the broth boils. Due to temperature changes, the beans will cook faster.
Tip: Constantly monitor the amount of water in the pan with beans: due to long cooking, it may boil away and the beans will begin to fry.
Soaking in broth
If you have a little time, remove the pan from the stove and let the beans stand in the warm broth for 30-60 minutes. Just before this, the beans must be boiled in boiling water for at least 15 minutes. You can soak it in your own broth for a longer period.
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After soaking, cooking is resumed and lasts about an hour.
About adding soda
Some housewives add just a little soda to the broth - on the tip of a knife - to reduce the hardness of the water. But soda destroys the vitamins in the product, so it’s better to immediately use filtered and bottled water.
Vegetable oil
During cooking, pour 2-3 tablespoons into the water. vegetable oil - sunflower or olive. This will make the broth richer and the beans will become softer.
Pressure cooker
Finally, if you have a pressure cooker in the house, put your beans in there. The beans will cook in 1.5-2 hours. Then cool the dishes, open them, salt the dish, let it stand for a while and place it on plates.
If you need to serve lunch and the beans are still a little undercooked, it’s better to be patient and serve snacks and drinks. Undercooked beans can have negative health effects. Waiting for a delicious soup or side dish with beans will only increase your appetite, and as you know, it is the best seasoning for food.
Video below - learn a few tricks on how to quickly cook beans without soaking using broth or vegetable oil.
Beans in a slow cooker
The real lucky ones are the owners of a multicooker. To cook both white and red beans using this method, you do not need additional preparations. Just fill the beans with water in a ratio of 1 to 10, set the device to the appropriate mode ("Cooking" or "Stewing" is best) and set a 40-minute timer. Then open the device and check if it is ready. Leave the beans in the slow cooker for another 20 minutes if necessary. Salting the beans, unlike all other methods, should be done first.
Subtleties
There is a fairly common myth that salt gives beans body and toughness, so you need to add it at the end. In fact, salt has no effect on the consistency of the beans, unless, of course, you are going to pour handfuls of them into the pan. Herbs and spices can also be added at any time.
If a recipe calls for adding acidic ingredients such as lemon juice, wine, vinegar or tomatoes, do so after the beans are cooked. Otherwise, the beans may not turn out as tender as you would like.
Beans in the microwave
A microwave oven is a solution for anyone who has limited time. To cook beans in the microwave, rinse the beans under cold running water, place them in a microwave-safe container and cook for 10 minutes using the maximum power setting. After the allotted time, remove the plate, mix the contents thoroughly and place in the microwave for another twenty minutes. Then remove the container and salt the water. Place the beans back into the oven for a few minutes. You should not salt the beans ahead of time, as this will increase the duration of the cooking process.
Is it possible not to soak beans before cooking?
Most often, the question “is it possible” is not asked, since the cook has a dry product in stock and needs to prepare it as quickly as possible. By soaking overnight for 7-8 hours, the cook simplifies his task, since the beans left in water will soften much faster.
It is quite easy to distinguish the way beans are prepared in a finished dish by appearance. Soaked specimens will increase in size by 2-3 times. At the same time, the skin on them will remain smooth and intact. After boiling dry beans for a long time, their skin will certainly burst, and they themselves will become very boiled.
Leaving the beans in water all day or night, you can cook soup from them in the evening or morning in just 1.5-2 hours. This is also quite a long time, which is why so many housewives prefer to buy canned beans. This can be put into the soup 5 minutes before turning off the stove.
For your information! Prolonged cooking makes the cereal soft, but has a detrimental effect on the vitamins and microelements in its composition. Under the influence of high temperature, substances beneficial to health are destroyed, so the body will be able to extract much less benefit from such a dish. This is another reason to avoid cooking for too long.
Beans for soups
Bean soup is a suitable alternative to boring first courses. It is best to cook red beans for borscht for 40 minutes in a pressure cooker, but you should soak the beans in the evening. If you decide to cook white bean soup, take note of one secret. You can add a few tablespoons of vegetable oil or a couple of seaweed leaves to the water. The broth will make the soup more flavorful and rich, and you will save time on cooking. This soup perfectly diversifies the daily menu.
Preparing Ingredients
The beans must be properly prepared first. First of all, go through it, removing damaged copies and debris. Then place in a colander, rinse thoroughly with running water to remove dust and soak.
Red beans especially need soaking. This reduces the cooking time and prevents increased gas formation, since components that are not absorbed by the body are washed out.
- Wash the beans and place in a large container.
- Fill with cold water in a ratio of 2 tbsp. liquid per 1 tbsp. product.
- Leave for 7 hours (overnight is possible) and change the water to clean water every 2-3 hours. Do not soak for more than 10-12 hours.
- If the kitchen is hot, place the soaked beans in the refrigerator to prevent them from sprouting.
- After soaking, the beans double in size. Take this fact into account when choosing a cooking method or calculating the required amount of the finished product.
- Rinse everything again with running water and start cooking.
Cooking process
- Wash the beans without soaking. Pour into broth.
- Season with pepper and bay leaf (2-3 pieces of each component are enough).
- This soup takes about 1.5 hours to prepare in a pressure cooker.
- We fry separately. Fry chopped onion with flour and dried basil until golden brown. Add a teaspoon of pariki, tomato paste (1 tbsp) and a few dried tomatoes.
- Pour the roast into the cooked beans. Mix thoroughly. Cover tightly. Let's brew a little. Add dill/parsley, but only just before serving.
Pork with beans in cheese sauce
People are used to eating beans either boiled or stewed with tomatoes. It goes well with mushroom sauce or chicken broth. It is customary to add it to meat.
However, not everyone knows about the recipe for beans with pork and cheese. This original combination will surprise all relatives and friends and will delight the household.
We offer an original recipe made from simple ingredients that will surprise everyone you know.
You will need to take a set of products in the form of:
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- Pork (ham) – 2 kg;
- Processed cheese (or curd cheese) – 500 g;
- Leek – 2 pcs.;
- Carrots – 3 pcs.;
- Canned white beans – 2 cans;
- Water – 1 glass;
- Salt – 1 tbsp;
- Ground black pepper – 1 tsp;
- Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp.
Cooking time: 60 minutes.
Calorie content: 230 kcal.
First, wash the fresh meat and cut it into small pieces. We also cut carrots and cheese. Take a can of beans, open it and remove all the liquid from there. Place all the ingredients on the bottom of the multicooker.
Add spices and water to them. Turn on the multicooker and set it to “Stew”. Cook with the lid closed for forty minutes. We open the lid several times and look at the resulting delicacy.
Stir carefully. Close the lid and cook until the legumes and meat are fully cooked. The dish is ready. Place on plates and sprinkle with herbs on top.
Cooking process
1) If we cook beans exclusively in a pressure cooker, then its walls and bottom need to be greased with a sufficient amount of oil. This will minimize foaming from the beans.
2) Cut the onion into slices/dices, as well as the brisket. Throw into the container along with the basil. Let simmer until the onions are cooked and the meat is browned. This process takes a little more than 5 minutes.
3) Grind the garlic and bay leaf. Then add them to the dish and let them cook for a couple of minutes.
4) Now it’s the beans’ turn. Along with it you need to pour water so that it covers the food (1:3), a spoonful of oil, salt and other spices.
5) Close the lid and try increasing the pressure. All this will take about 25 minutes.
6) Finally, remove the bay leaf.
The ideal side dish for such a dish would be potatoes. Many people prefer to serve beans with rice or buckwheat. To make the dish look appetizing, you need to decorate it with herbs. A great addition to it would be arugula or spinach.
Most housewives pre-soak beans before cooking. Some do this at night, others three to four hours before cooking. This will soften the hard structure of the beans as much as possible and reduce the cooking time of this product several times.
So, the most popular and ancient product can be prepared easily and quickly. But you are taking a risk, because after such a culinary masterpiece, all members of your family will constantly ask you to cook this dish. Although, no matter what feats you will go to in order to see the satisfied, and most importantly, well-fed smiles of your household.
How long to cook
The duration of cooking beans depends on the chosen cooking method, its quality and the desired result. The time is also affected by the preliminary preparation of the product.
Bean cooking time
| White | Red | |
| After soaking | 50 minutes | 60 minutes |
| No soaking | 1,5 hour | 4 hours |
| In a slow cooker after soaking | 1,5 hour | 2 hours |
Cooking beans is not difficult if you know the basic rules for cooking them. To make a legume-based dish not only tasty, but also healthy, soak the product in advance. Water will absorb insoluble sugars, which will reduce the burden on the intestines. The dish will become even healthier.
Improve digestion?
People don't eat very many beans, not only because they take a long time to cook. It is known that beans are not the easiest food to digest and cause gas formation. There are, of course, supplements that can help improve the situation, such as fennel and its seeds, as well as asafoetida powder (available in Indian spice stores). But the main ways to “fight” the problem are as follows. Firstly, the beans need to be chewed thoroughly, making the task of the digestive system easier. Secondly... you need to eat more beans! Then your body gets used to this type of protein and learns to cope with it without loss.
Fennel and its seeds promote good absorption of vegetable protein contained in beans
Season?
Boiled beans perfectly absorb the flavors of additives. She does this especially well if the dish contains butter or unrefined vegetable oil. Try combinations with spices (cumin, coriander, chili flakes, curry, ajgon), herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, tarragon), vegetables (pumpkin, zucchini, parsnips, bell peppers) and herbs (fresh ginger, garlic, chili and onions).
Season boiled beans with spices and herbs to improve taste
What can't you cook in a pressure cooker?
Ingredients to Avoid in Instant Pot Solution
- Breaded meat. Breaded meats or vegetables are not recommended, even on the grill, as the breading will become soggy as the pressure cooker steams. ...
- Tender cuts of meat. ...
- Fast food. ...
- Bread. ...
- Cookie. ...
- Thickeners.
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29 Jun 2022
