Cooking in Lock-Down

Call me a bean snob if you will, but I don’t buy canned beans of any variety. I’m also somewhat of a kitchen gadget snob and I have a pressure cooker (if you don’t have one, you’re living like an animal). I promise you that a pressure cooker will save you money in the very short run*.

My secrets for cooking garbanzos are the following:

1.     Soak the beans for 24 hours, or more

2.    Cook with salt, and other spices. I like bay leaf and turmeric (I can never remember the English for turmeric and had to look it up, cúrcuma en español)

3.    Cook in pressure cooker for 15 minutes

4.    Turn off gas and let them sit

Drain and eat. They are so good that you can eat them like popcorn, or use them in recipes. I don’t like to make stews with beans (except lentils which cook quickly). Instead I cooks the beans separately and then add them to the stew. The cooking times are very dissimilar so almost anything you cook them with turns to mush.

* For starters, dried beans are much cheaper than canned beans (here they come in glass jars and are also more expensive). You use a lot less energy, for any hippies out there. You can use cheaper cuts of meat and turn them into something exquisite in a matter of minutes in a pressure cooker.