Cooking Legumes (Beans, peas, and lentils)

Cooking Legumes (Beans, peas, and lentils)

Soak & soften - To shorten their cooking time and make them easier to digest, all large size beans should be presoaked. There are two basic methods for presoaking. For each you should start by placing the beans in a saucepan & add two to three cups of water per cup of beans.

1- boil the beans for two minutes, take the pan off the heat, cover and allow to stand for two hours.  (my personal favorite – seems to shorten cooking time)

2- soak the beans in water for eight hours or overnight, placing the pan in the refrigerator so that the beans will not ferment. Before cooking the beans, always drain the soaking liquid and rinse beans with clean water

Cook:

No matter HOW you cook them – Do not add any salt or acid foods to your beans until they are softened.

Cooking in a crockpot or slow cooker allows YOU to do something else without worry while your dinner is prepared.  This is what I call – “unattended cooking” and i cannot say it enough – in these modern times with multi-tasking, tired moms & family cooks – if you want to eat simple home cooked meals made in a jiffy – you should get familiar with, fall in love with – and marry – a slow cooker!!!!  Ok, I don’t sleep with it, but just about everything else to love is in this little cute kitchen tool.  The cooking times listed below are for those who haven’t yet met this wonderful appliance…which, yes – it takes your beans longer in a crock pot – to soften & be ready to add into soups, dips, tostadas, casseroles, salads, southern cookin’,  and the multitudes of protein uses that beans can enviously offer you.  The benefit is no more burned beans, your brain can forget about that pot on the stove, you can just do anything at all instead!!!

Oh – yes, the time for slow cooker beans is about 4 hours on high, and about 6-8 hours on low…check them after this to see if they are soft.

Oh, and we could talk about solar cooking, but that is an advanced technique – to be saved for another day…a sunny day

Legumes (1 cup dried)	Stove Top		Pressure Cooker		Herbal Combinations tried & true
	Water ratio	Time	Water ratio	Time
Adzuki bean (Aduki bean)	2-3	1-1/2 hrs	2-3	45 min	Coriander, cumin, ginger
Black bean	2-3	2-1/2 hrs	2-3	1-1/4 hrs	Coriander, cumin, ginger, sage, thyme, oregano
Lentils	3-4	1 hr	3	20 min	Coriander, cumin, ginger, sage, thyme, oregano, dill, Basil, , mint, garlic
Green split peas	3-4	1 hr	3	20 min	Dill, basil
Whole peas	3-4	3 hrs	3	1 hr	Chive, rosemary, tarragon, thyme
Pinto-Kidney bean	2-3	2-3 hrs	2-3	1 hr	Coriander, cumin, ginger, sage, thyme, oregano, fennel, cumin
Garbanzo bean	3-4	4-5 hrs	3	2-3 hrs	Dill, basil, mint, garlic
Limas & Black eyed pea	2-3	1 hr	2-3	35 min	Coriander, cumin, ginger, sage, thyme, oregano, fennel, cumin
Mung bean	3-4	1 hr	3	20 min	Coriander, cumin, ginger
Yellow or black soybean	4	4-6 hrs	3	2 hrs

(table of cooking times source: Healing with whole foods, Paul Pitchford)