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Types of beans
Red beans – broad beans medium in size with a dark red shell. It is also called “kidney”, kidney (kidney beans) – in its shape it really resembles a kidney. Do not sprout red beans – raw beans contain toxic substances. Before cooking, they need to be soaked for at least 8 hours, drain the water, and then cook until tender: 50-60 minutes. Red beans are often used in Creole and Mexican cuisine, particularly chili con carne.
Another favorite of Central and South America – black beans… These are small beans with a black shell and a creamy white interior that is slightly sweet, mealy and crumbly in taste. They need to be soaked for 6-7 hours and then cooked for 1 hour. They are cooked with lots of onions, garlic and cayenne pepper, or they are used in the famous Mexican black bean soup with corned beef.
Lima beans, or lima, originally from the Andes. She has large flat beans of “kidney” shape, most often white, but they are black, red, orange and spotted. For its pleasant oily taste, it is also called “butter” (butter) and for some reason Madagascar. Lima beans need to be soaked for a long time – at least 12 hours, and then cook for at least 1 hour. Lima beans are very good in thick tomato soups with lots of dried herbs. Baby Lima Beans it is recommended to soak for just a couple of hours.
Beans “black eye” – one of the types of cowpeas, cowpea. It has medium-sized white beans with a black eye on the side and has a very fresh flavor. It is most popular in Africa, where it comes from, as well as in the south of the United States and in Persia. It is soaked for 6–7 hours and then boiled for 30–40 minutes. From these beans in the South American states for the New Year they make a dish called “Jumping John” (Hoppin ‘John): beans are mixed with pork, fried onions, garlic, tomatoes and rice, seasoned with thyme and basil. For Americans, these beans symbolize wealth.
Motley Are the most common beans in the world. It comes in many varieties. Pinto – beans of medium size, oval in shape, pink-brown, with a speck that “washed out” when cooked. Cranberry and borlotti – also in a pinkish-red speck, but the background is creamy, and the taste is more delicate. All these varieties need to be soaked for 8-10 hours and cook for an hour and a half. It is most often eaten whole in soups or fried, mashed and fried again with spices.
White beans (there are several varieties of it) – medium-sized beans. They have a neutral taste and a creamy texture – a versatile bean that is very popular in Mediterranean cuisine. In Italy, cannellini beans, long and thin beans, are mashed and added to thick potato soups with herbs. Cannellini is put in pasta e fagioli – pasta with beans. White beans are soaked for at least 8 hours, and boiled for 40 minutes to 1,5 hours.
Azuki (aka angular beans) are small oval beans in a red-brown shell with a white stripe. Their homeland is China, and due to their sweetish taste in Asia, desserts are made from them, first soaking for 3-4 hours, and then boiling with sugar for half an hour. In Japan, adzuki with rice is a traditional New Year’s treat. Sometimes sold as a finished paste.
Other types of beans
Dolichos beans with a white “scallop” is grown in the subtropics of Africa and Asia and is used in several Asian and Latin American cuisines in combination with rice and meat – they are very tender, but do not boil over. Dolichos needs to be soaked for 4-5 hours and cook for about an hour.
Lentils come from the legume genus, their homeland is Southwest Asia. Brown lentils – the most common. In Europe and North America, winter soups are made from it, adding vegetables and herbs. It needs to be soaked for 4 hours, and then cook for 30–40 minutes, trying not to overcook it.
Green lentils – it is unripe brown, you do not need to soak it, it is cooked for about 20 minutes.
Prepares the fastest red (redhead) lentiltaken out of the shell – only 10-12 minutes. In the course of cooking, it loses its bright color and in an instant turns into porridge, so it is better to watch it and slightly undercooking it.
Black lentils “beluga” – the smallest. They called it so because the finished lentils shine, resembling beluga caviar. It is very tasty on its own and is cooked in 20 minutes without soaking. It can be used to make a stew with fennel, shallots and thyme, and put cold in a salad.
In India, lentils are mainly used peeled and crushed, in the form gave: red, yellow or green, simmered in mashed potatoes. The most common is uraddal: black lentils, in a peeled form they are yellow. Very tasty vegetarian burgers are made from such mashed potatoes, and curry can be made from uncooked dal, adding, in addition to spices, onions, tomatoes and spinach.
Peas – yellow and green – grows on almost all continents. The worldwide popular pea soup is made from mature seeds of husked varieties naturally dried in the field, while immature seeds – mostly non-mealy, brain varieties – are frozen and canned. Whole peas are soaked for 10 hours and boiled for 1–1,5 hours, and split peas – 30 minutes.
Mash, or golden beans, or mung dal, are tiny, thick-skinned peas native to India that can be green, brown or black. Inside there are soft, sweetish seeds of golden yellow color. Mash is sold whole, peeled, or chipped. It is not necessary to soak the chopped mung bean – it does not cook for long: 20-30 minutes. And the whole one can be soaked for a short time so that it cooks faster, but it is already cooked from 40 minutes to 1 hour. What supermarkets often call “soy sprouts” are in fact almost always mung bean sprouts. It, unlike soy sprouts, can be eaten raw.
Chick-pea, aka Spanish, or Turkish, or mutton peas, or garbanz, is one of the most widespread legumes in the world. Its seeds are pea-like – light beige in color, with a pointed top. Chickpeas take a long time to cook: first, you need to soak it for at least 12 hours, and then cook for about 2 hours, trying not to overcook it – unless you want to make mashed potatoes from it. Chickpea puree is the base of the popular Arabian snack, hummus. Another appetizer is made from it, a hot one is falafel. Sprouted chickpeas are an excellent, very satisfying, slightly bitter appetizer or addition to a salad.
For 4 thousand years soy was one of the main foodstuffs in China, but in the West it became widespread only in the 1960s. Soybeans do not contain cholesterol, but they are packed with nutrients, including a large amount of easily digestible protein. But at the same time, it contains the so-called inhibitors that interfere with the absorption of vital amino acids. To break them down, soy needs to be cooked properly. First, the beans are soaked for at least 12 hours, then the water is drained, washed, covered with fresh water and brought to a boil. The first hour they should boil vigorously, and the next 2-3 hours – simmer.