What is a good bean and how do I prepare it?

Question

I got a bag of black beans, let them soak overnight and then cooked them and they were disgusting. I cooked them and soaked them the way the directions said to so I don't know why they were so bad. Anyway, what bean do you like and how do you prepare it? Thanks!

PS-I'm a somewhat new vegetarian and I'm trying to get my protien that's why I'm asking about the beans. Any other sugestions on how to get protien would be great. Like..how many grams of protien should I be trying to get?

Answer 1

There are some wonderful tasting black bean soups.
Adapted from Vegetarian Express, by Nava Atlas and Lillian Kayte (Little, Brown and company, 1995).
Just in time for the Mexican festival celebration of Cinco de Mayo, we offer you a fabulous Mexican-style soup that features one of the healthiest foods you can eat: cholesterol-lowering, high-fiber, heart-healthy black beans.
SIMPLE SOLUTION: This tasty vegan soup is so quick to make, you’ll have time to whip up some guacamole and tortilla chips to serve alongside. Add a pitcher of margaritas or sangria and you’ll have yourself a fiesta!

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 or 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 1-pound cans black beans, drained and rinsed
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
Freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
4 cups water

Optional toppings: green onions, thinly sliced, soy yogurt, reduced-fat sour cream, or low-fat yogurt

1. Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Saute the onions over moderate heat until translucent, 3 or 4 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until the onion is lightly golden, another 3 or 4 minutes.

2. Add the remaining ingredients, except the toppings, along with the water, and bring to a simmer.

3. Mash some of the beans with a potato-masher, just enough to thicken the liquid base of the soup. Cover and simmer gently but steadily for 10 minutes.

4. Serve hot topped with one or two of the optional toppings.

Serves 6 to 8.

Answer 2

BLUE RIBBON PINTO BEANS

1 pound bag dried pinto beans
salt (to taste)
canola oil
large onion, chopped

Look Pinto Beans and remove rocks and imperfect beans, wash well and drain. Place in large boiling pot with a good thick bottom, like Club Aluminum Dutch Oven with lid.
Important: Do not presoak beans!!

Cooking in this way will cause them to become a beautiful reddish color in a thick soup.

Place beans in a pot of water filled almost to the top. Bring beans to a boil and reduce heat to medium/low. They will continue to cook and you will have to add more HOT water until beans are tender. When tender, add salt to taste, 2 tablespoons canola oil and one large chopped onion.

Continue to simmer...as soup begins to thicken you may have to lower temperature. Be sure that there is an adequate amount of water, cooking down to make a thick red soup.

When done, (about 3 hours later) cook the juice down. You can remove the lid when the beans are done and turn the temperature back up to cook down the soup. Once you try this method of cooking pinto beans, you will never presoak again!

Answer 3

Beans can be pretty plain if you don't spice them up somehow, especially if you try to make them from dried. My favorite is the garbanzo, because I can do a lot with it. I use canned garbanzos, drained (because the water is salty). You can blend it in a blender with 1/2 water, 1/2 cup olive oil, a tablespoon garlic and a pinch of fresh parsley for hummus, which is great with pita bread or fresh veggies. Also you can fry an onion in some oil, add the drained garbanzos, about 1/2 tsp. each of ground cumin, cayenne pepper, and dried garlic, while continuing to fry. Then add 1/2 can crushed tomatoes and cook until it is soft. You can add chopped fresh cilantro if you like, for a great veggie dish eaten alone or over rice (sort of Indian in flavor). Garbanzos are also good cooked with potatoes (another Indian-inspired dish) by again, starting by frying an onion until golden, adding diced potatoes and the drained beans, with the same spices as above, and the tomatoes. Again, cook until the potatoes are soft and top with cilantro if you want. Finally, (and something different), you can mash the canned garbanzos and mix with your choice of seasonings and something like bread crumbs and chopped onions and pan fry them to make a "chop" for eating as a meat sub or on a bun. Garbanzos RULE!!

Answer 4

This is "Chole a La Easy"
Chickpeas or Garbanzo beans are my fav. and so easy to make.


Ingredients:
Dry Garbanzo beans– 2 cups
Water – 4 cups
Salt – ½ tsp
Bade Elaichi (Big Cardamom) – 1
Cloves – 5
Cinnamon – 1 small piece
Garlic – ½ tsp, minced
Ginger – ½ tsp, minced
Onion – ½ medium, chopped
Tomato – 1 medium, chopped
Oil – 1 Tbsp
Hing (Asofoetida) – pinch (optional)
Haldi (Turmeric) – ¼ tsp
Tomato Sauce – ½ cup (1/2 of 8 oz. can)
Garam Masala – ¼ tsp
Chole Masala – 2 tsp
Dhania Powder – 1 tsp
Red Chili Powder – ¼ tsp (to taste)
Lemon Juice – ½ tsp (to taste)
Cilantro – 5 sprigs, chopped for garnishing

Method:
Soak 2 cups Channa in 4 cups Water for at least 3 hours.
In a pressure cooker, add Channa with the Water, Salt, Bade Elaichi, Cloves, Cinnamon, Garlic, Ginger, Onion and Tomato.
Pressure cook for 2 whistles, reduce flame to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
Heat Oil in a separate medium sized, non-stick pan.
Add Hing and Haldi.
Add Tomato Sauce, mix well and sauté until oil starts to separate.
Add Garam Masala, Chole Masala, Dhania Powder and Red Chili Powder – mix well and cook for 1 minute.
Add cooked Channa (with the water) to the pan and mix well.
Boil for 5 minutes or to get a thicker gravy, pressure cook for 3-4 whistles.
Add Lemon Juice and adjust Salt, Chili Powder and Chole Masala to taste.
Garnish with Cilantro.
Serves 4-5

Tips:
If you don’t have time to soak the Channa for 3 hours, bring Channa and water to a boil on the stove, in a pan with a tight fitting lid. Boil for 5 minutes and turn off stove. Cover the pan with the lid and let it stand for 1 hour. Your Channa should be ready to pressure cook.
If you don’t even have one hour to soak the Channa, try using canned Garbanzo Beans. The process is the same except let the pressure cooker whistle only 1 time and then turn off stove.

Answer 5

you can get protein from dried peas and beans you can cook beans by washing them in clean water and then put them in the pot with some olive oil. add salt to taste and boil them until tender on low heat. be sure to keep water in them while cooking. and i never said they would taste good but you can get use to them if you try. pork and beans are good just warm them up before eating them other wise you get a gas problem. Try some of the 15 bean soups in the grocery.