Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Steam your Beans !!





Of course you can always just pick up a can of beans off the supermarket shelf whenever you need them, but you can always just as well let them soak and boil them yourself.
I just prefer to cook the beans at home as opposed to buying them in a can simply because I like them fresh, I can skip the Aluminum (may it be even scant) that gets transferred from the can itself into the canned product (which by the way, I have read that it can produce Aluminum intoxication over time) and then thirdly just because I can choose the exact amount I wish to prepare and I am not stuck with too much or have to deal with insufficient beans.
Those being said, because I have steamed beans for the first time, I thought I would share.
They turned out great !
Even better than boiling them.
And it's easy to do it too....wash, rinse, place in the steamer bowl (it is called a rice bowl), cover with water, then start the steaming !!

Ingredients:
1 cup beans
1 cup water for covering them
7 cups water for the steamer

Directions:
Pick your beans, place them in a bowl


and wash them in there.


Then rinse and let sit in water


until you pull out your steamer from the kitchen cabinet and get it ready.


Fill the steamer lower compartment with the 7 cups of water or just until it hits the "MAXIMUM" mark,


place the basket with the holes on top and place the rice bowl or compact plastic bowl in it....


add the beans, cover with the 1 cup water, place the lid on top and start your steamer.
Make sure it is set for 65 minutes.


Look at that steam !!


At the 40 minutes mark check on your beans and go from there, although in my case there was no need to add any more water in any of the 2 compartments.
When ready, just use as any other canned beans.
Enjoy !

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