I haven't really done anything with dry beans in a long time. I used to love to make various kinds of baked/southwestern style/soup beans back before the hypertension dx, but all the recipes I used called for some kind of cured meat, which is now off the table for me. I thought about sticking a porkchop in but, meh, that doesn't appeal.
Then I realized: lots of vegetarians and vegans use beans, surely there are good recipes out there that don't require the flesh of an animal, especially not that has been smoked and salt-cured. Also, when I was up in Illinois, one of the cooking shows I happened to catch (Barefoot Contessa, maybe?) showed beans being made and I don't think any meat was in them. I don't remember all the spices that went in (I was knitting and not paying full attention).
But: does anyone have a bean recipe, either traditional (sweetened) baked beans, or the southwestern-style (not sweet) beans, or bean soup, that is GOOD and that doesn't require salty ingredients? I could go searching about or modify existing recipes but it would be nice to know of a tested one. (ETA: I know, I could use a standard recipe and leave out the salt pork/bacon but I suspect it might taste a little "flat." I think the tv chef added "liquid smoke," which is actually a surprisingly low-sodium condiment, in hers)
(And ugh, how tired it makes me to know that I know nearly all of the "low sodium condiments" now)
7 comments:
I think that this is the vegetarian black bean recipe we make and like: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2009/01/vegetarian_black_bean_chili_with_orange_and_cumin (The orange perks it up a bit)
We've been using a book on slow cooking Indian recipes recently, and it has a lot of chickpea and lentil recipes that are good. If you're interested, I can get you the informaiton.
I used the ole google and came up with some decent ones.
I like that this site had 5 different versions of a basic recipe.
http://www.nomeatathlete.com/rice-and-beans/
This one had the nutritional facts listed at the end, which I thought might help you. Besides if you are using low sodium tomatoes and canned beans it might change the values, but you have a base number here for comparison. http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/mexican-beans-and-rice
And then a classic martha stweart recipe. http://www.marthastewart.com/859862/black-beans-and-rice
The key to a "Boston" Baked Bean taste is the slightly odd combination of molasses, mustard powder, and a little ginger. Here's my recipe.
1 cup dry beans: soak 1 hour in very hot water, then pour that off and cook in more water until skins split when you blow on them.
Mix these:
1 TBSP cider vinegar
2 cups bean water or beer
2 TBSP (or more) finely chopped onion
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 TBSP brown sugar
3 TBSP molasses
1 vegetarian bullion cube or 1 TBSP miso
Pour mixture over beans and bake in a covered pot 4 hours at 275 degrees (or 6 hours at 250 degrees). Check them toward the end and don't let them become dry.
I know I have made beans without meat lots of times but I can't remember any specific recipe. I usually just use the "throw spices in it until it tastes good" method.
Argh, dammit, blogger just ate my very long comment. Long story short: bean good. Will come back later to rewrite.
Gonna break previous long comment into little bit. Bit 1: I sometimes add a blob of butter to get some of the mouthfeel of adding a pit of pork fat. I haven't bothered with liquid smoke but I bet it'd be fine.
Bit 2: this shows the recipe for black bean and sweet potato chili we've used before and like. Tomato products have been subbed out with no problem (could use lower-sodium), and I usually put in way less garlic and use crockpot beans (made without a ton of spice so they can be done in different ways.
Bit 3: we have beans and rice for dinner at least once a week unless it is really hot outside. It's a standard weeknight dinner and is done by the time the rice cooks.
Start cooking some rice. In a pot, put in onions, garlic, butter or oil, and some mixture of these that you have and like: hot pepper, black pepper, cumin, cinnamon (just a pinch if you use it) sweet pepper, mushrooms, cubed tofu, tomatoes in a convenient format. When they're nice and soft, add a can of beans, or similar quantity of cooked beans. Let them cook together at low temp until the rice is ready, serve as-is, and/or on tortillas, and/or with cheese, tomatoes, salsa, hot sauce, avocado, fresh veggies as optional toppings. It can be practically a salad or practically pure complete-protein carbo load depending on our mood and time of year, and is excellent for clearing 3 slices of sweet pepper, a lonely wilting mushroom, and some leftover stir fry out of the fridge without being too leftovery. I think most of those things are low-sodium or have easy equivalents like the low-sodium canned tomatoes.
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