Now that statement reflects less on my cooking ability than it does on my diet to this point in my life - I mean, being raised in the mid-west, it was a sin to not have a slab of meat, some potatoes and maybe some vegetables as an afterthought added to the plate. Beans where baked and out of a can, green and also out of a can, or they were soybeans in the field next to the corn that you saw driving down the highway. So it shouldn't be a great surprise that I was clueless that beans had to be soaked.
Back home, I discovered I had some more beans in my pantry. When or how they got there, I can't be sure - maybe the remains of a previous relationship, or a long forgotten and short lived health kick. Either way, I thought I might as well soak them too. This lead to my second bean discovery, beans swell when you soak them - they swell A LOT. All of a sudden I had beans coming out my ears. The original plan was to fill the crockpot with the beans from the pantry and cook the new beans stove top. But by the time they were done soaking, the beans from the pantry could fill the crockpot three times over - and the new ones are still hidden in the soaking bowl in the fridge. Please don't make me face them yet! After a few swear words, I devised a plan - the first third went into the crockpot and became some spicy bean soup (which came out tasty enough - but I needed to leave out the chickpeas because that was the "thing that was not like the others").
The remaining two-thirds started as refried beans but became hummus - or bean dip - or something that is tasty in which you can dip breads and vegetables. After doing the math, the anticancer friendly recipe looks a little like this:
- 8 oz bag Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans
- 8 oz bag Black beans
- 8 oz bag Lentils
- 8 oz bag Pinto Beans
- 1/4 cup Olive Oil (approximate - I used enough so that my onion slices were half deep in oil)
- 1 very large sweet yellow onion -sliced
- 6 cloves of garlic - chopped
- 1 quart box of Free Range Chicken Broth
- 2 tsp. Cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp. Paprika
- 2 tbsp. Sesame seeds
- 1 tsp. Hot Chili Sesame oil
- Salt & Black Pepper to taste
SOAK beans overnight, change water and boil until black and pinto beans burst (about 2 hours for me) then drain. In a separate LARGE deep skillet, saute onion in the olive oil until translucent, add garlic and saute another 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat and add beans starting with just a few ladles full - mix well with onions and garlic, stir in remaining spices. I got out my hand held mixer at this point, poured a bit of chicken broth in and started pureeing. Mixing, adding some beans, mixing, adding some broth and mixing some more until all the beans and all the broth were gone. I turned off the heat about half way through the mixing marathon.**This is my first "recipe" attempt - I usually cook by adding spices, tasting and adding some more so adjust according to your taste. Also, I ended up with with about 8 store size containers of hummus - you may want to cut the recipe in half unless you find yourself with an abundance of beans because you didn't realize BEANS SWELL when you SOAK THEM.
