Beans are a valuable food product due to their protein, the absorption of which reaches 70-80 percent. And their ability to reduce blood sugar levels allows people suffering from diabetes to diversify their menu.
Many people refuse to eat bean dishes because they take a long time to cook. But there are ways to speed up the process.
Secrets of cooking beans
The most common way to speed up the cooking of beans is to soak them overnight. It has a significant disadvantage - most people simply forget to do this and remember only when it's time to cook.
If you urgently need to cook beans, and you did not soak them the night before, just pour cold water over them, bring to a boil and leave under the lid for an hour or two. Then drain the water. The beans will swell in the same way as after soaking overnight. After that, drain the water, pour clean water over the beans and cook as usual.
There is a method that consists of several stages.
1. Pour water over the dry beans so that it covers the grains by 1–2 cm and bring to a boil.
2. As soon as the water boils, the contents of the pan should be poured into a colander and rinsed with cold water.
3. Pour clean water into the pan again and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and leave under a closed lid for 40-50 minutes.
4. Drain the water. Pour cold water over the beans again, bring to a boil and cook over low heat until done.
Without soaking
If you don't want to bother with soaking and draining the water, you can cook dry beans right away. In this case, you need to add cold water in the first 30 minutes after boiling. When the beans boil, add a little cold water to stop boiling. Repeat several times. This technique replaces soaking.
There are a few more points to note.
- You can check for doneness by squashing the beans between your fingertips. If you like them soft, they should crush easily. If you prefer them slightly firm, they are done when they crush with a little force.
- Swelling and cooking times vary depending on the variety. As strange as it may sound, large beans often cook faster than small beans. Many varieties of small beans have very hard beans, which increases cooking time.
- If you add a pinch of baking soda to boiling beans, they will cook faster.
- You can add salt only 5 minutes before the beans are ready. If you add salt right away, the beans will take longer to cook, at least an hour.
It should be remembered that any product not only brings benefits, but can also cause harm when consumed in large quantities. People suffering from gout, arthritis, arthrosis, cholecystitis, and gastrointestinal diseases should not abuse beans. They should also not be given to children under 3 years of age.
