12/05/2024
20 BEANS COOKING TIPS AND TRICKS
1. Honey beans is the most sweetest beans of all beans and that is why such name is given to it. It is very easy to cook and don't really need enough Ingredients to cook it.
2. Do not add salt in your beans until it is tendered or else, it will harden prematurely and takes longer time to cook. But there is an exception to this rule, by adding the salt to the water and allowing it to boil very well, before adding the beans.
3. Do not worry yourself, If you don't have crayfish to cook your beans, just use enough onions ( 3 to 5 bulbs of onion ), you can slice some and blend the rest to cook your beans and still get an irresistible taste.
4. The best ingredients to cook your beans are crayfish, onions and palm oil. Even if you are cooking plain beans, still add enough onion for perfect taste.
5. You can enhance the taste of your beans by adding it little sugar. Do not be surprised that sugar is used for cooking, because it is also a seasoning, just like salt.
6. Cooking your plantain with beans is far better than frying the plantain and serving it with the beans. Cooking your plantain with the beans means that the plantain gets the seasonings and spices the beans get. It means that the overall taste of the beans will improve and there is extra sweetness.
7. The best way to cook your beans is by simmering ( slow cooking ), but not by boiling ( high cooking ). Slow cooking will help your beans to cook properly and also retain their shape by treating them gently.
8. Soaking your beans with hot water few hours before cooking it, will help to fasten the cooking process and also, to stop bloating, indigestion and heartburn.
9. Using fresh peppers to cook your beans will give it better taste than using dried peppers, especially if you are using yellow pepper to cook the beans.
10. Tomato should never be used to start the cooking of your beans. This process will help to slow down the cooking process of your beans.
11. In order to take your beans to a higher level (that is, to make it sweet more) and to make it very rich, is by frying the beans and also use enough smoked or dried fish to cook it.
12. Soaking your beans before cooking it, might be a good idea because according to studies, it helps reduce the gas producing properties of the beans and it also shortens the cooking time.
13. Starting the cooking of your beans with acidic ingredients such as tomato, vinegar, lemon juice, chilies, etc can stop your beans from fully cooked and becoming tender. It is best to add those acidic ingredients only towards the end or after cooking the beans.
14. Adding sliced tomato and vegetable leaf (of choice) at the end of the cooking of the beans, is a good source of vitamins and nutrients, and also served for garnishing purposes.
15. To get the best out from your beans, is to cook it with any of the following: yam, ripe/unripe plantain, sweet/Irish potato, rice, noodle or corn. Whenever you are cooking your beans with any of the above foodstuffs, always add it when the beans is almost soften, except if you are using corn to cook the beans.
16. Adding potash (limestone) in your cooking beans will help to speed up the cooking process.
This process also helps to save gas or kerosene and it doesn't even change the taste of the beans, but it might be dangerous to your health.
17. Mashing some of your beans when cooking it, can help to give you a perfect thick rich beans porridge.
18. It is best to parboil and rinse your beans like rice, before the proper cooking.This process helps to stop bloating, indigestion and heartburn.
19. The followings can be used to soften your beans faster: Onion, baking soda, potash and using pressure cooker/instant cooker.
20. If you want your beans to soften faster, you can soak or wash it with salt before cooking it
Written by:* Food Research kitchen.