Probably everyone knows the main secret of cooking peas: soak in water, preferably at night. This procedure significantly reduces cooking time. The main thing here is not to overdo it with the time of soaking: our soaked product can become acidic.
Often, housewives believe that you need to cook peas by pouring it with a small amount of water and regularly adding cold water as it boils. Wrong! It is better not to top up the cold water during cooking, this only makes the peas dumber and becomes harder.
So, we will begin to analyze in stages how to cook peas.
1. We sort, wash, soak in cold water, so that it covers peas with 2 fingers.
2. The best time for soaking is 5-6 hours. If it happens in the summer, then after 1-1.5 hours at room temperature, the soaked product can be sent to the refrigerator, on the shelf, where the temperature is not very low. So it does not turn sour exactly, and the soaking time automatically increases (for example, while the hostess is at work).
One can note such subtlety: well-swollen peas do not cause violent gas formation, which is so “pleasing” to amateur eaters.
The period of soaking can be reduced by changing the water several times while washing peas.
3. Before cooking, the water in which the peas were soaked should be drained, filled with fresh (cold) water, about 3 liters of water per 1 kg of peas. You can cook.
4. How much should you cook peas? Cooking ideally lasts an hour and a half. It all depends on the variety of peas.
Remember that you should not add cold water during cooking, only boiling water! Suppose that time is sorely lacking, and you want peas. Help out the method of high-speed cooking.
Pea Express Cooking
Rinse the peas well in several waters. Fill with cold water and bring to a boil. We drain the water, fill it with cold and bring it to a boil again. This procedure is repeated a total of up to three times. The method is suitable for all legumes.
5. At the start of boiling, foam must be removed. She does not decorate our dish.
6. Salt is necessary only at the end of cooking. Salt inhibits digestion.
7. If pea puree should be obtained as the final product, then peas must be kneaded hot, then lumps can be avoided.
8. The taste of the dish improves significantly if cooked immediately with vegetables - carrots, root parsley and onions (it is possible with greens). It will be even tastier if the vegetables are fried before cooking. Knead the mashed potatoes without pulling out the cooked vegetables, that is, knead them too. Taste it will only benefit.
These are the basic rules that answer the question "How to cook peas", so to speak, the basics of cooking. If their development went smoothly, then you can move on to the intricacies of obtaining delicious dishes with peas.
Smoked meats are unusually decorated with pea soup, mashed potatoes and any other dishes with peas. You need to cook them with peas. The smell will be breathtaking!
Good additions to peas are sausages. Roasted meat added during the cooking process will also add spice to the dish.
A classic for pea dishes is frying in bacon, if with bacon, then very good. It is worth remembering that a calorie dish is simply the most satisfying and very nutritious.
How to cook peas so that it is not bland and boring? Spices will help: peas are friends with black pepper - ground and peas. Peas peas must be tied in marlechka or a clean rag before being lowered into the water, so as not to catch it all over the pan. Red pepper, paprika, celery, caraway seeds, ginger, coriander - peas are in perfect harmony with many spices, from which its taste only improves.
In Soviet times, cooks of public canteens answered the question "How to cook peas?" very simple: "You need to add soda when cooking." Yes, of course, soda speeds up the digestion, but the taste of the dish only worsens. This is an extreme measure, applicable if the variety is already very hard and does not boil even after 2-2.5 hours (it happens with technical varieties and unscrupulous suppliers). You can add soda to the tip of the knife, the cooking process will go faster.
A little soda added by soaking the remaining solid peas will help to cook it faster. Only rinse it after soaking before cooking it is necessary very carefully.
So, practically, we figured out the question of how to cook peas. It is not difficult at all, but in the end ... Smell, aroma, consistency - above all competition! No wonder this type of bean is loved by many and in many forms. By the way, the famous London fogs in England are called "pea soup", they are so similar in color (shade) and density.