Perfecting the Bean

So, the other day I decided to try a recipe from a cookbook I bought recently, Vegan Planet, by Robin Robertson. While faced with the dilemma of “soaking the beans overnight” or “not soaking the beans,” I also referred to another cherished whole-foods cookbook.

I decided to not soak them. Instead, I rinsed them (pintos, by the way) and then covered them with water in a pot and brought them to a rolling boil and boiled them for seven minutes. Then I gently rinsed them with warm water and placed them into the crock pot. I added some seaweed flakes, covered it all with water, and cooked on high for 6 hours. The beans turned out soft in the middle but firm on the outside. They were some pretty good looking beans, I must say. I finally learned how to perfect the bean!

I then put together the recipe from Vegan Planet, “Red Bean and Sweet Potato Curry.” This dish was absolutely delicious. I really loved it. The suggestion was to serve some over jasmine rice, but I skipped the rice. I ate this for two days in a row. I am planning on having some over jasmine rice for supper tonight. This was an amazing recipe. I replaced the red beans with the pinto beans, but still, this was great. And, I learned that not soaking them too long actually preserves the enzymes needed to digest the beans so that there are no musical tendencies after eating them.