I prefer to use dried beans to tinned when I have the opportunity. Tinned tend to lose some flavour in the water, they are just fine for bulking out soups and casseroles but if you are making a dish such as hummus then the flavour from dried are far superior.
So when I came across this post from The Paupered Chef I was sceptical. Cooking dried beans in under 90 minutes – what kind of madness is this! So I gave it ago.
NB: The older the dried beans are the longer they tend to take so you may need to adjust cooking times depending on how far back in the cupboard you found the beans!
Ingredients
250g Pinto Beans
800 ml Water
3 tsp Salt
1 Garlic clove
1 tsp Cumin, ground
1 tsp Sugar
2 tbsp Sunflower Oil
1 Onion, finely chopped
Method
Pre heat the oven to very hot, gas mark 9 (240c/475f).
Put the beans, water, 2 tsp salt and the garlic into a good quality pan such as Le Creuset
Check on the beans after 45 minutes and add more water if necessary.
Here is the remarkable part – after 75 minutes the beans should be cooked right through. No soaking required.
Once the beans are cooked though drain and rinse with fresh water.
In the original pan cook on a medium heat the onion in the oil until soft, add the rinsed beans, sugar, 1 tsp salt and cumin then mash them with a potato masher while they are still cooking through. Stir the beans to prevent them from sticking while they develop into a thick dry purée.
[...] I experimented with cooking beans from dried in under 90 minutes. It’s been a revelation as I use a lot of dried pulses and beans, and often forget to soak them early enough. If you haven’t tried this yet then I have some instructions here. [...]
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