!Beans, peas, lentils
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agk's kitchen
created: 15 May 2023
updated: 19 August 2023
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"Put navy beans in a big pot of salted water to
soak overnight. Put on with the wash water about
six in the morning, with bacon, or ham. Let cook
uncovered on low burner. Clock between loads of
wash. Add 1 large, finely minced onion at eight
when you're bluing the overalls. At nine have a
quick cup of coffee & dump 1/2 in the beans if you
want. Add 1/2 cup fine minced carrots at bleach
time (about eleven). Serve at noon with soda
crackers & slaw you made the night before. For
washday this is a pretty good deal."
--Mary Linder in Mickler 1986, White Trash Cooking
WATER & COOKING TIMES
C=cup/240mL, T=Tablespoon/15mL, tsp=teaspoon/5mL
TO COOK
First sort through for dirt & stones. Then wash &
rinse thoroughly.
Simmer
- Place soaked kombu in bottom of pot. Add soaked
legumes & cold water.
- Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low.
- Cover & simmer til almost done.
- Add seasonings & salt.
- Continue to cook about 15 mins til soft.
- Uncover. Turn to medium if you want to cook off
excess liquid.
Pressure-cook: less cooking time, water, soaking
- Place soaked kombu & legumes in pressure cooker
with cold water.
- Cover & bring to pressure. Reduce heat to low &
cook required time.
- Allow pressure to come down.
- Remove cover. Season & simmer about 15 min til
excess water cooked off.
Bake
- Place soaked legumes in pot with cold water &
soaked kombu.
- Add 4-5 C water to each C of beans.
- Place pot on stove. Boil for 15 min to loosen
skins.
- Pour legumes into baking dish.
- Cover and place in oven at 350F 3-4 hours.
- Add more water when needed.
- Bake until 80% done.
- Add salt & seasonings. Cook until soft.
- Remove cover to brown.
Variation: Add diced onions, kale, or other veget-
ables when legumes 50% done.
--Pitchford 2002, Healing With Whole Foods p.513-4
NOTES
Legumes are second only to grains as our most imp-
ortant food source. Whole dried beans keep for a
year in a tightly covered container in a cool, dry
place--or indefinitely in the freezer.
Acidic foods (tomatoes, tomato sauce, lemon juice,
wine) react with seed coat starch & toughen beans.
Calcium (in molasses) interferes with cooking. Salt
reacts with the seed coat, prevents liquid from
being absorbed, & toughens beans. Add these ingred-
ients after beans finish cooking.
--Ruth Yaron 2013, Super Baby Food p.278-81
Aduki beans, lentils, mung beans, & peas digest
most easily and can be eaten regularly. Legumes
combine best with green or non-starchy vegetables
& seaweeds. Season with salt, miso, or soy sauce at
end of cooking. Salt is a digestive aid for high-
protein foods.
Soak dried legumes 12 hours or overnight in four
parts water to one part legume. Change the water
once or twice. Lentils & peas need shorter soaking,
garbanzos longer. Soaking softens skins & begins
the sprouting process, which eliminates phytic acid
thereby making more minerals available. Gas-causing
enzymes and trisaccharides are released in soak
water; discard.
After bringing legumes to boil, scoop off & discard
foam. Boil 20mins without lid at start of cooking
to break up & disperse indigestible enzymes. Pour a
little apple-cider, brown-rice, or white-wine vine-
gar in the water in the last stages of cooking
legumes. Combining vinegar with legumes softens
them & breaks down protein chains & indigestible
compounds.
Sprout legumes to break down their protein into
amino acids, starches & trisaccharides into simple
sugars, and to create valuable enzymes & vitamins.
Sprouting legumes til they have rootlets maximizes
digestibility. Lentils, mung, & aduki beans sprout
most easily.
--Pitchford 2002, Healing With Whole Foods p.511-3
RECIPES
Judge Joe B Hamiter's Red Beans & Sausage
Serves 6
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Soak 1lb dried red beans overnight. Chop 4 medium-
sized onions & 4 stalks of celery fine, saute in
1T bacon drippings in an iron pot. Add beans,
2 bay leaves, 2 small red peppers, salt. Cover
well with water, boil slowly for one hour. Cut 2lb
of smoked, stuffed sausage in 1in pieces, fry
lightly in 1T bacon drippings, add to beans.
Simmer entire contents for additional hour. Serve
over cooked rice with side dish of green onions.
--Mary Land 1954, Louisiana Cookery p.190-1
Refried Beans
Serves 4-6
2C cooked beans (aduki, black, pinto), 1/2C bean
juice/water, 1/2 onion chopped, 1/4tsp coriander,
1/4tsp cumin, 1T oil, salt to taste
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Saute onion. Add seasonings. Saute 1min.
Add 1/2C beans at a time. Mash with back of wooden
spoon. Add bean juice. Simmer til enough liquid
has cooked off.
--
Tostadas: toasted tortillas topped with refried
beans, salsa, sliced avocado, lettuce.
Tacos: soft tortilla wrapped around beans with
guacamole, salsa, shredded cabbage.
--Pitchford 2002, Healing With Whole Foods p.516
Black Bean & Sweet Potato Burritos
see Sweet Potatoes
Hummus
see Snack Food
Curried Chickpeas
Saute onion. Add curry powder. Add tomatoes. Add
coconut milk. Add cooked chickpeas, kombu, bay
leaf. Dump in pressure cooker, bring to pressure,
cook >20min. Serve over rice with side dish of
palak paneer (cooked spinach & cheese).
--Anna's recipe
Eggplant and Chickpeas ("Pizza")
Warm canola or other oil in skillet on med-high.
Peel, dice, & saute eggplant. Add butter after
eggplant sucks up all the oil. When dry again &
toasted, mince some garlic & ginger. Add more oil
with garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, tiny pinch
salt, italian seasoning, white pepper. Cook til
garlic soft & fragrant. Add broth, soy sauce,
worcestershire sauce, cooked chickpeas, and water
as needed. Cook til chickpeas & eggplant are
desired texture. --Evy's recipe
Mushroom Lardons with Black-Eyed Peas & Greens
Serves 4
2 med portabello mushroom caps sliced 1/4in cubes.
6T olive oil.
1/4tsp salt, 2T soy sauce, 1/2tsp smoked paprika.
5 minced garlic cloves, 1/2tsp black pepper,
1/2tsp crushed red pepper flakes.
2C cooked black-eyed peas,
6C rough chopped kale, collards, or chard.
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Heat 3T oil in large skillet on medium-high heat.
Add mushrooms. Cook stirring often til they start
to brown, 3 to 4 mins. Reduce to medium, cook til
mushrooms deeply & evenly browned, ~10mins longer.
Reduce to medium-low if they darken too quick. You
want them to shrivel & brown. Add salt, soy sauce,
smoked paprika. Stir til pan dry. Put mushrooms in
bowl, set aside.
--
Place remaining 3T oil in pan with garlic, black
pepper, crushed red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring,
til garlic fragrant, 30sec to 1min. Add black-eyed
peas. Once they start sizzling add greens. Stir &
shift greens around with slotted spoon or tongs.
Once they start to wilt after 1.5-2 mins, return
mushrooms to the pan. Cook stirring til greens
tender, 2-3 mins more. Turn off heat; serve.
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Will keep 5 days refrigerated in airtight jar.
--Pelzel 2019, Umami Bomb p.104-6
