When I temporarily became a vegetarian I quickly became aware of how valuable beans were to a diet. Cheap, convenient, and nutritious. I use to hate beans a few years back and there are quite a few people who also dislike beans. I discovered that my dislike of beans were usually because of texture, like kidney beans for example…Blech. But as I matured, I discovered I didn’t mind the texture much if they had the right complementing flavors. I wouldn’t even go near kidney beans until I went to the DC Chili Cook-Off a few years ago, where I realized that they tasted perfectly with a little bit of fiesty American flavor. The right amount of cayenne pepper, tomatoes and beef creates a great balance of flavor: spicy, acidic and hearty.
You can buy beans canned or dried. I usually buy canned, which is a little bit more expensive. You pay a little bit for the convenience, which I need as a busy college student. But if you have the time, dried are worth it. A lot of Web sites will tell you to let them soak for 4 hours, but my mom (who does this all the time might I add) says not to bother with that. The skin is usually way too tough. What my mom does is she puts the beans in a pot, fills up the water above the beans and brings that to a boil. After the water comes to a boil, she simmers the beans for 4 hours. If you don’t have time for all of that, which I can totally relate, canned beans are still relatively cheap.
The thing I love about beans is that you can use them in a variety of types of cuisine. Garbanzo beans are great for hummus. Hummus is nutritious and easy to make on your own-you only need a food processor. You just blend garbanzo beans, tahini (seaseme paste), olive oil and garlic. You can also add roasted garlic or roasted red pepper to create a dynamic flavor. You can even blend certain flavors of different types of cuisines. I really like smoky flavors, so I once added some crispy turkey bacon to the food processor. It might sound strange, but I think bacon makes almost anything taste better!
Like I said before, most cuisines have a way they can use a certain type of bean. You can use kidney beans to make a spicy chili like this vegetarian chili. White beans are great in italian dishes to add some heart-healthy protein and black beans are a staple in Latin food. I would be careful about soybeans though. A lot of people like edamame to snack on, but I have heard a lot of controversial things about soybeans. For example I heard that they are not environmentally friendly to harvest and I have heard millions and miliions of messages and “studies” claiming completely opposite things about soy. Some people say it’s the best thing you can do to fight heart diseases, while others say it’s one of the worst things you can put in your body. Just be wary. I plan on doing some research about this topic and perhaps writing a blog post in the near future. Stay tuned!
