Veganomicon_ The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook - Isa Chandra Moskowitz [33]
then boil again the day of, but your beans won’t taste as good and overnight soaking helps dissolve the starches that are the primary source of beans’ musical properties. So soak ’em! Put your dried beans in a pot with plenty of water (the water should come up two or three inches above the beans), cover, and stash in the fridge until tomorrow. Or, if you’re set on cooking beans that night, why not set them to soak that morning, before you run out the door to catch the train to work?
After the beans have soaked, drain the water, then replace with fresh, cold water (roughly three cups of water to every cup of soaked beans, better too much than too little) and bring to a boil in a pot with a lid. Once the beans are boiling, reduce to a simmer—if you leave them at a boil, they will turn to mush—and cook with the pot’s lid slightly ajar so that steam can escape. How long will depend on the bean; see our guidelines but note that different factors, such as how old the bean is and how dry it is, will affect cooking times. Add a teaspoon of salt to the pot about 20 minutes before the beans are done (don’t do this earlier or they’ll toughen up). Once the beans are nice and tender, drain and use as called for in the recipe. One cup of dried beans will give you roughly three cups cooked (results may vary).
As a resource to you, dear reader, we’ve compiled this mini encyclopedia of beans and their common uses. We recommend cooking a pound of beans at a time, storing in the fridge, and using that week. To help you out, we list a few recipes where the given bean is called for. Bean on!
Adzuki
Sometimes called aduki, sometimes called azuki, besides being incredibly fun to say, these little, deep red beans are fast cooking, low in fat, and nutritious. A popular bean in Japan and China, they have a delicate flavor that’s both sweet and nutty. They’re used in both savory dishes and sweet desserts (even ice cream). They also come in black, for your inner goth.
Cooking time: 1 hour
Recipes: Butternut Adzuki Coconut-Crusted Croquettes; Acorn Squash, Pear, and Adzuki Soup with Sautéed Shiitakes
Black Beans
Billions of burritos can’t be wrong. Black beans may very well be the most popular bean in vegetarian cooking. Very popular in many Latin American and Caribbean countries, but a true workhorse of a bean, good in just about everything from breakfast to dinner. These dense and meaty beans are also known as turtle beans, don’t ask us why.
Cooking time: 1½ hours
Recipes: Black Bean Vegetable Soup, Acorn Squash and Black Bean Empanadas, Black Bean Burgers, Quinoa Salad with Mango and Black Beans, Grilled Yucca Tortillas (Black Bean variation)
Black-Eyed Peas
These beans got soul. Tasty and cute, they’re cream-colored beans with their namesake black spot that watches your every move. We like them worked into barbecue-themed foods and anything particularly saucy and/or spicy in American Southern, Caribbean, and African cuisines.
Cooking time: 1 hour
Recipes: Black-Eyed Pea-Collard Rolls
Chickpeas (a.k.a. Garbanzos)
Gar-BON-zoooooooooooooo! Almost as much fun to say as adzuki. These are also known as ceci beans (Italy) and chana dal (India). Responsible for the miracle that is hummus, and also falafel and too many curries to mention. Also makes an amazing flour when ground up that’s great in baked goods (especially if baking gluten free is your goal). These adorable, round, pale beige beans have a rich, “full,” and nutty taste that never fails to satisfy.
cooking time: 1½ hours
Recipes: Chickpea Cutlets, Chickpea Quinoa Pilaf, Chickpea Noodle Soup, Fresh Dill-Basmati Rice Pilaf with Chard and Chickpeas, Tomato and Roasted Eggplant Stew with Chickpeas, Hummus
Great Northern Beans (a.k.a.White Beans)
See also navy beans. We can