Locomotoring

I remember a time when I had re-discovered eggs and soldiers. That was a world before recommendation engines, and before influencers. I had just learned to make reproducible soft boiled eggs and had just started becoming carb conscious thereby wanting to stretch the slice of bread. I hope this isn’t another re-discovery of epic proportions.

In the plant based dietary world, beans are the prima donnas. They are on, in every meal and every plate – in soups, in salads and in hummus-es. So, what is problem? Firstly, have you seen what Rancho Gordo carries on its shelves? Given the possibilities that exist, should I be limiting myself to canned garbanzo beans? Secondly, ours is a small household, so a cup of bean goes a long way. And, I really don’t like eating the same thing more than twice. For times I have too much of a good thing, I have mechanisms to freeze portions perfectly. But why? Live in the moment, right? Therefore, we want to make a small batch of different bean varieties in a week. Thirdly, and most importantly, we want to be energy efficient, low hassle, and minimal watchfulness.

To all those who love their pressure cookers to death, I would say that it is terribly hard to get perfectly plump pillow-y beans all the time. My India made pressure cooker has been my companion for over three decades, but I continue to mess it up at times. Sometimes I get distracted and lose track of time and end up with beans fit for creamy soup only. At other times, I have to put the cooker back on stove. My trusted cooker is also like an angry steam train, it whistles for attention every few seconds. To maintain a low simmer, I have to use a diffuser plate and use the smallest burner at its dimmest setting. I call that fuss pot.

The other day, I was watching a Michelin star Italian chef cook a large pot of soup – presumably for all the guests who were arriving that night. He had soaked the beans for 24 hours and then cooked them in an earthen pot for several hours in an oven to get the pillow-y perfection. He had referred to Italian grandmas having done this for centuries. I have earthen pots. I have an oven. But I didn’t want a large batch of anything anytime soon. The annual eighty pounds of plums that ripen every August within the span of two weeks may have something to do with my reluctance.

The Italian tradition did start me wondering about electric pressure cookers and yogurt makers and dough proofers. I am reluctant when it comes to buying new gadgets. Or in other words, I am turning into my own mother! It eventually dawned on me that we had a temperature controlled water bath in the form of Anova sous vide cooker. I have been making yogurt in my sous vide cooker. In mason jars too!

So the next day, I picked three distinct varieties of beans, a cup each of mayan red, garbanzo beans and black eyed peas. I rinsed and soaked them individually in 32 oz wide mouth mason jars. To each jar, I added a teaspoon of salt, a slice of kombu and half a teaspoon of baking soda. I left them to rehydrate for 24 hours. I rinsed the beans again, refreshed the water, added a teaspoon of salt, covered the jars and put them in 190F bath for 8 hours. I used a sprouting cover during the rehydration phase to allow for ease of water change. During the cooking phase, I uses normal jar covers. If you are wondering about the fourth jar, that was a cup of prepared hominy. It soaked in salty water for 6 hours. A lo and behold, I had pillow-y beans. I kept the cooked beans away in their cooking liquid in the jars until I was ready for them during the week. Next time I would check the hominy sooner, they had reached their post-pillow-y state during the 8 hours of cooking.

So, what do you think? Hack of the century or another re-discovery?