I’m trying to incorporate more beans into my diet and am finding it quite difficult to get my beans the way I want them to be. I’m curious to hear your guy’s standard bean recipes. Do you guys use canned or dried beans? Stovetop or microwave? Any secret ingredients?
Here’s what I’d call my standard bean procedure.
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First, I start with canned beans. Dried beans are a bit firmer it seems, but I don’t feel like dried impacts the flavor enough to be worth the soak time.
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If I have it, I’ll grate half of an onion into the beans. I don’t like onion crunch.
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Microplane dried mushroom into it for extra protein and flavor
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Salt, pepper, granulated garlic, paprika and chili flakes. I don’t really like how garlic powder works with the beans and don’t feel the need for fresh garlic. Fresh ginger is really fire in it though. I add things on top of this usually for more flavor, but this is just my standard bean.
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Microwave for 3 minutes
I’d do more if it made a difference in flavor, but so far I can’t seem to make anything really make the beans pop. What do y’all do?
I’m lazy, can’t plan for shit, and have picky eaters at home, so I usually do canned black beans.
I start with a small onion, dice it and cook that in some oil until it’s as done as you like. Other aromatics can go in now, but I usually skip 'em. Once the aromatics have opened up, I like to mix Better Than Bouillon paste in, just before I dump in the drained and rinsed beans. Any flavor of the paste works great. Stir it all in and before the paste starts to burn, add the beans and stir to coat in the flavor mixture. Put in whatever other spices you want, I like cumin and just a scant dash of cinnamon and cocoa powder. Add water, cover and simmer on low until the beans juuuust start to break down, about 20 min.
Recipe ratios are roughly:
2 cans of beans (15oz) : 1 small onion : 2 tsp BTB paste : 0.5 cup water