The homeland of beans is India and Central America. Today it is actively and successfully grown already throughout the world. That's because this bean variety is a fantastic product. It contains protein, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins. Even when stewed, it leaves a greater amount of all useful substances in itself than any other raw product. Beans are useful, but they are, nevertheless, not recommended for everyone. Do not eat it for the elderly, people suffering from jade or gout, as well as those who have gastritis, cholecystitis, peptic ulcer, colitis, pancreatitis. Braised beans are better absorbed by the body if cooked with vegetables than with meat or fish.
The most frequently prepared dish is stewed beans. It can be stewed with vegetables, meat, spices. Beans can be prepared and served as an independent dish, or as a side dish.
So, stew the beans with vegetables correctly:
To prepare this dish we need: 1 glass of beans, carrots, onions, garlic, cabbage, tomato juice, Bulgarian pepper (frozen can be), vegetable oil, salt and spices. Usually the beans are soaked for the whole night, but if the night has already passed, and you need to cook the beans, soak it for at least 2-3 hours. We put the beans to cook, first on a big fire, and as soon as it boils we make a small one and close the lid. While the beans are being cooked, we will take care of the vegetables. They need to be thoroughly washed and cleaned. Finely chop the onion and send it to the pan to fry. Next, rub the carrots on a coarse grater and send to the onion. Shred the cabbage and add it to the already fried onions and carrots. When the cabbage becomes soft and loses volume - add bell pepper to the pan and fill everything with water. All vegetables must be stewed until they become soft. After that, add tomato juice, salt, spices and crushed garlic. All this needs to be done while the beans are cooked. Then we combine the finished beans and vegetables, cover and let it stew for another 5 minutes. Everything, the dish is ready and it can be served on the table as an independent.
An alternative would be cooked beans in a double boiler. In this case, everything is done in the same sequence, only the beans are not cooked on the stove, but steamed. There are no obvious advantages or disadvantages of this method of cooking, rather, to whom it is more convenient. The cooking time for beans in a double boiler is usually slightly longer than on the stove, but the probability of its digestion is much lower.
If, however, stewed beans becomes the main dish of your table, you should know a few secrets of its preparation, which will improve the taste of the dish, reduce the time of its preparation:
- Rinse the beans before cooking at least three times, always in cold water.
- To bean cooked faster, it is better to soak it before cooking all night. Soak beans must also be correct - water should be exactly 2 times more than beans, and the temperature should not exceed 15 degrees, otherwise the beans can simply become acidic.
- The water in which the beans are boiled must be drained immediately after it boils. Replace it with cold fresh water.
- Salt must be strictly after the product is cooked.
- Do not stir the product during cooking.
- When cooking beans, you can not add soda to it (many housewives do this to speed up the cooking process). It will boil faster, but its taste will deteriorate due to the fact that soda destroys vitamin B1.
- Do not mix bean varieties. Each variety cooks its own specific time, and you have the opportunity to get half undercooked and half boiled grains.
- To improve the taste of beans in the water where it is boiled, you can add a bunch of greens without untying it. When the beans are cooked, the bunch can simply be removed.
Now you know how to cook a tasty and very healthy dish called stewed beans.