The magical fruit: Beans stretch budgets and provide quality protein
C’mon, sing it with me!
The more you eat the more you …
Ahem. Yeah. We’re too old for bodily-function jokes and songs, aren’t we? But this kind of begs the question: Are you afraid of beans?
I don’t mean run-screaming-from-the-room-in-terror “afraid,” but do you hesitate to cook with them? Don’t know what to do with them, so you do nothing?
Dried black beans.
Beans are a fantastic means of stretching grocery budgets, making a small amount of meat go further, and for vegetarians, getting an adequate amount of protein in one’s diet. When paired with rice or other grain, beans form a complete protein that is life-sustaining and delicious. The fiber in beans also reduces serum cholesterol levels in the blood, and the bulk allows one to feel fuller longer.
Many people don’t know how to cook them or think that eating beans will make you … um, gassier than the local BP station. I’ve discovered exactly the opposite and have some ideas about using beans in your regular meal-repertoire, but also keeping them on hand for your pantry or food storage.
Beans have become a regular part of our dietary excursions. I’ve always enjoyed black beans, and great northerns are a family favorite, but I always bought them in cans and tried to stock up when stores put them on sale. Within the last few months, though, I began to realize that when I buy cans of beans, I’m paying for a lot of water and the convenience of not cooking them myself.
I did some research and realized that I could cook them on a stove top or in a slow-cooker, but these processes are time-consuming, and I was nervous about buying a quantity of dried beans and having no sure-fire means of succeeding when cooking them.
Enter the electric pressure cooker. I liked the idea of a pressure-cooker that also doubled as a slow-cooker, and the model I ended up purchasing is also a rice-cooker, which is something my husband had been jonesing for.
I still soak my beans - overnight is recommended, but I also find that in a pinch, a two to three hour hot-water soak is quite effective, too. If you try this, don’t add baking soda or baking powder as a means to ‘reduce gassy side effects’ - the sugars in beans aren’t affected by adding things like baking soda or powder. The natural sugar in beans (raffinose) is the culprit behind the gassiness that some people experience, but soaking the beans and changing the water a number of times allows the raffinose to go down the drain and not cause problems in your digestive tract. My husband was quite skeptical, but since I've been rinsing beans during the soaking process, he’s been forced to admit that he’s not having any problems digesting what I serve.
After a soak, I pressure-cook my beans with a dollop of a saturated fat (whatever I have at hand) to reduce foaming, and cook the little protein-filled beauties for eight to 10 minutes on high. The beans are perfect: tender, delicious and ready for dinner.
I regularly stir white beans in to a bowl of pesto, chicken, pasta and asparagus as an added protein kick, but I’ve also found that if I manage to overcook my beans (as I was getting used to the pressure cooker, it happened), I can add the mushy beans as a bean paste and substitute half of the oil required in a brownie recipe, effectively adding protein in to something that otherwise has very little protein, and no one can taste the difference.
My friend Laura, over at Sharpen Your Scissors checked out the process of cooking beans on the stovetop and compared their cost to the tinned beans sold in the stores. She found it to be somewhat more laborious to cook her beans, but the bottom-line savings were incontrovertible. One pound of beans cooks up to equal approximately four cans of pre-prepared beans, but lack the cost and gassiness that canned beans can produce. I’ve discovered the same thing and am thrilled to include this ‘back to basics’ staple in my kitchen and family’s diet.
If you're looking for a way to stretch your grocery budget and protein levels in your diet, I encourage you to consider beans. Buying them dry and rehydrating and cooking them yourself isn't nearly as hard as you might think, and you'll find that indeed, beans are a magical fruit - but not in the way the kids' rhyme goes.
Sue is a wife, homeschooling mom, photographer, and freelance writer who is currently on a back-to-basics kick in her kitchen. You can read her writing at A Mother's Heart and reach her via e-mail.
Photo credit, Staci Cilia, c. 2009.
Comments
Wolverine3660
Sun, Apr 11, 2010 : 10:52 a.m.
Sue- Whole Foods regularly carries fresh coconuts. They dont have it all the time,and you sometimes have to ask for it. Freshly grated coconut beats the dried coconut flakes (that one can buy at an Indian grocery), hands down.
Sue Talbert
Sat, Apr 10, 2010 : 6:07 a.m.
Thank you so much, Wolverine & Rebbapragada! I'm excited to try these new recipes - and I honestly thought Channa Dal was designed to be mushy, not retain its shape. :) I appreciate all the pointers and seasonings for this - my family is in for a treat! :)
Wolverine3660
Thu, Apr 8, 2010 : 4:34 p.m.
Sue- for South Indian recipies, check out books by this author- Maya Kaimal, and her 2 books are also available at the Ann Arbor Library.
Sue Talbert
Thu, Apr 8, 2010 : 4:18 p.m.
Wolverine - thank you! :D I'm going to reserve that book and check it out when I get home. I suspect I'll find other good recipes for my vegetarian-friends as well. :) I'm mostly familiar with northern Indian cuisine, so this will be a treat. :) krc - holy cow - you had me laughing until I cried! "Posterior breezes"... I have to remember that one! :D
krc
Thu, Apr 8, 2010 : 4:14 p.m.
The way I remember the Bean Song is Beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you let out posterior breezes.
Wolverine3660
Thu, Apr 8, 2010 : 4:13 p.m.
Sue- Reppapragada described how Indian folks, especially South Indian folks use various spices to flavor their different Dals (lentils). Check out this Indian cookbook- itis probably the best Indian cookbook out there these days- it will give you a lot of info on how to cook various lentils. Indian folks of different ethnic groups season their foods in different way, and this book has it all. Title is " 660 Curries", by Raghavan Iyer. The Ann Arbor Library system has multiple copies if you want t o check it out before buying. And Sue, I loved reading your blog, I will email you my recipe for red lentils
Sue Talbert
Thu, Apr 8, 2010 : 3:48 p.m.
REBBAPRAGADA - that sounds amazing! Would these seasonings also work for the dals? I have some chana dal at home that I want to experiment with, but I'm unsure how to season it. Wolverine - THANK YOU! I was reading this on my phone this morning and commenting to my husband that I'll be making this when we get home - of course, I'm reading your recipe when I hadn't eaten breakfast and was ridiculously hungry, too.;) Engineering Mom - excellent point. I don't have problems with sodium, but for those who do, dried beans give you much more control over that aspect of dietary concern than do canned beans. I did neglect to say that for those who have insulin-challenges (hyperinsulinemia, hypoglycemia, type 2 diabetes, etc.), the fiber in beans also helps control insulin response and reduce what I call 'the insulin bounce,' despite the fact that dietary-wise, they are considered starches/carbs. krc - Yup, my husband learned it that way, too. I learned "magical," not "musical," but the latter makes more sense.;)
krc
Thu, Apr 8, 2010 : 3:41 p.m.
This should have been titled "The Musical Fruit"!
EngineeringMom
Thu, Apr 8, 2010 : 3:26 p.m.
An added advantage of cooking with dry beans is you can control the sodium level. Canned beans have a lot of salt.
Wolverine3660
Thu, Apr 8, 2010 : 9:30 a.m.
Sue- here is a basic red bean recipe I used last night. I soaked about 1 lb of dried red kidney beans, overnight, then washed then out real well. 3 tablespoons of canola oil 1 large onion chopped medium 6 cloves of garlic, chopped 1 inch of fresh ginger, chopped medium 1 teaspoon of dried Thyme 1 teaspoon of dry oregano 1/2 teaspoon of red chili pepper flakes 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper 3 Indian Bay leaves( from and Indian grocery, because they taste sweeter than the usually sold in local supermarkets) 1 can of diced tomatoes I heated the oil in the pressure cooker, added the onions, garlic and ginger, and sauteed them till the onions began to carmellize. Added the spices,stirred well. Added the can of tomatoes, and let simmer for a while. Then added the washed, soaked beans, and added some water to cover th ebeans by about 1 inch. Put on the pressure cooker lid, made sure the gasket was on proper,a dnturned the stove to high. As soon as the pressure builtup, and th e pressure cooker whiltled, Iturned the heat down to low, and let the beans cook for 15 minutes. Then turned off the stove, and moved the pressure cooker to a cold surface,and allowed it to cook,and let the pressure dissipate. Took about 30 mins. Then I opened the cooker, took a potato masher,and mashed some of the beans to get the starch out, so that the beans would get thicker. I had also coked somerice, and then I served the beans in bowls, with some rice. Added a dollop of plain yogurt on top of the rice-n-beans to add additional taste and also extra protein. On other occasions, I have added some Tasso( Cajun ham) to get a different flavor. Hope y'all like this. :):)
Sue Talbert
Wed, Apr 7, 2010 : 9:20 p.m.
Patti - that sounds delish! :) WTG - we love refried beans here! Laura - thank you for your kind words... and with an 8 y/o, it's a feat keeping the potty-talk, um... gracious.;) I loved your tutorial on beans - keep up the great work!
sharpenyourscissors.net
Wed, Apr 7, 2010 : 9:10 p.m.
Sue, I LOVE your humor (you are gracious with your potty talk) and ease in bringing 'lost arts' in cooking back into real live kitchens! I think I'm jonesing for a pressure cooker too! PS: thanks for the kind linkage!
Patti Smith
Wed, Apr 7, 2010 : 7:31 p.m.
I like to keep them and make refried beans for tortillas. I just throw them into a pan with some olive oil and use my potato masher to mash the crap out of them. I know this sounds just lovely, but it actually tastes really good!
Sue Talbert
Wed, Apr 7, 2010 : 6:27 p.m.
W00t, Wolverine! Congratulations on beating cancer, too. :) And if you'd like to share your recipe for red beans & rice, I'd love it - we try to do one rice & bean-meal per week around here, just for general purposes.;)
Wolverine3660
Wed, Apr 7, 2010 : 6:18 p.m.
If fact inspired by Sue's article this morning, I made a big batch of red beans and rice in my pressure cooker for dinner. :) Also, like Ed mentioned, beans left overnight seem to taste mush better the next day- the flavors seem to mature and infiltrate each bean. Plus, being a cancer survivor, I have to be reall careful to avid most meat products- the slightest amount of growth hormone residue could make my tumor regrow, so, I have given up on meats,and beans and lentils and soy products are what I have to eat to get the necessary protein.
Sue Talbert
Wed, Apr 7, 2010 : 6:13 p.m.
That's an excellent point, Ed. I often under-cook the beans I know I'll store in the freezer and then put them in one-cup storage containers for easy use later. :) For me, a perfect lunch is black beans, brown rice, a bit of cheese, and some hot sauce. Mmmmm. Black beans from the freezer also work really well for that purpose, too.;)
Atticus F.
Wed, Apr 7, 2010 : 4:18 p.m.
The gas factor is also contingent on how often you eat beans, once your used to them, your body is able digest them without the gas...Something to do with an enzyme your gut produces.
Sue Talbert
Wed, Apr 7, 2010 : 9:14 a.m.
Thanks for the thoughts, Wolverine! There is some thought that the more legumes are consumed, the less affected individuals are by the "emission"-factors. Oftentimes cultures that consume "slow food" tend to have an overall better flora count (gut health) that makes it easier to digest things like beans, lentils, etc, so that may also play a part in your upbringing & digestive history. :)
Wolverine3660
Wed, Apr 7, 2010 : 8:42 a.m.
I use a stove-top pressure cooker to cook beans and various lentils. Red kidney beans or white, or pinto or black beans take only about 15 minutes to cook( after the pressure builds up in the cooker, about 8 mins). And maybe because I grew up in an Indian home, eating a lot of beans and lentils and veggies, I dont seem to have the "emission" problem that most people say is the reason why they prefer to not eat beans :)