I guess on any given day any of those tools could be my favorite.
But today I was reminded how much I love one tool in particular, and I want to share it with you.
I love my pressure cooker.
For making people-friendly, planet-friendly food, there is no better tool.
My pressure cooker cooks beans from start to finish in under an hour. Can your favorite pot or pan do that?
Here's how I do it, using a method I learned from Madhur Jaffrey.
First Step: Sometimes I quick-soak my dried beans. Sometimes I don't. I try to do it every time I make beans, but I don't always have time. For a quick-soak, pour boiling water over your beans and let them sit for about an hour. Then rinse well.
Second Step: Put your quick-soaked beans into your pressure cooker and cover with an inch or two of water.
Third Step: Add a few drops of peanut oil or other high-heat oil. (I avoid canola because it comes from a genetically modified seed. Grapeseed oil or coconut oil would be good options.) The oil keeps the water from foaming up and clogging your pressure release valve.
Fourth Step: Bring your pressure cooker to full pressure and then reduce the heat to keep it at full pressure until the beans are cooked. For chickpeas like those I cooked tonight, this takes about 15 minutes. Check out this handy guide for cooking times of other types of beans.
Fifth Step: After 15 minutes at full pressure, turn off the heat and let the pressure reduce on its own. This will take at least half an hour if not a bit longer.
Last Step: Drain and rinse your beans. They're good to go!
Do you like the Dulce de leche style caramel? My mom used to put a can of condensed milk in the pressure cook (remove the paper and wash the can, of course) with water and she even did it while cooking beans. So yummy, the condensed milk hardens and gets dark and there you have caramel or dulce de leche. (the longer you cook it, the harder it gets).
ReplyDeleteI love it! I'd never thought about making it that way. Thanks for the tip!
DeleteHello! I just stumbled onto your blog and am enjoying going through your archives of "earth friendly" posts looking for non-toxic home DIY tips (drives me crazy how difficult those are to find!!) when I ended up here, and I thought you might be interested to know that Trader Joe's sells canola oil under their label, which means that it's guaranteed non-GMO. I used to avoid canola for a while too, until I discovered that. I don't know if there's a TJs in your area, but for what it's worth we don't have one locally - we just stock up whenever we go to visit family in Albuquerque.
ReplyDeleteSo great to know, Ava! Thanks for sharing. Yeah, we don't have a TJ's yet, but I did just have a friend stock up on some deodorant for me when she went to the Santa Fe TJ's. Next time I'll ask for Canola Oil, too. :) Thanks for the heads up!
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