garbanzo question time

cricket · #1 03-11-2009, 03:41 PM

hi. i'm making hummus right and i wasn't sure how long to soak the beans. so i went to this site and they said:

Quote:

To shorten their cooking time and make them easier to digest, garbanzo beans should be presoaked (presoaking has been found to reduce the raffinose-type oligosaccharides, sugars associated with causing flatulence.) There are two basic methods for presoaking. For each you should start by placing the beans in a saucepan and adding two to three cups of water per cup of beans.

The first method is to boil the beans for two minutes, take pan off the heat, cover and allow to stand for two hours.The alternative method is to simply soak the garbanzos in water for eight hours or overnight, placing pan in the refrigerator so that they will not ferment. Before cooking them, regardless of method, skim off the any skins that floated to the surface, drain the soaking liquid, and then rinse them with clean water.

that bold part is what i'm doing. NOW when it comes to cooking them, they tell me:

Quote:

For the stovetop method, add three cups of fresh water or broth for each cup of dried garbanzo beans. The liquid should be about one to two inches above the top of the legumes. Bring them to a boil, and then reduce the heat to simmer, partially covering the pot. If any foam develops, skim it off during the simmering process. Garbanzo beans generally take about one to one and one-half hours to become tender using this method.

now wait just a minute. dried? i thought i just soaked them. so do they mean three cups of water for however many cups of dried that you STARTED with?

so okay i'm boiling them for two minutes, letting them soak for two hours, draining them, adding new water to them, bringing that whole thing to a boil and then simmering it for an hour and a half? and then they're cooked? is that it? i get so fucking mad when these things are not crystal clear to me.

REMIND ME TO USE CANNED BEANS NEXT TIME.

phoenix rose · #2 03-11-2009, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cricket

do they mean three cups of water for however many cups of dried that you STARTED with?

i think they fucked up and someone needed to edit the directions they posted but did not
i hate that shit
well anyways, it appears that they failed to give the directions on cooking the ones that have been previously soaked and the cooking directions they did give seem to be for those that have not been soaked?
so i think the best way to figure this out would be to maybe google for recipe instructions elsewhere that says what amount to add for ones that have been soaked?
this is why i have never dealt w. dried beans it just seems like too much of a pain in the ass

cricket · #3 03-11-2009, 04:47 PM

ugh those fuckers. my rage over small things like how a website is worded should probably worry me. but anyway yeah the recipe i'm using says to use garbanzos that are either canned or soaked-from-dry, and it doesn't say anything about cooking them. but i'm pretty sure THEY ALSO meant something else, because it doesn't seem like they'd be ready to go after just a soak. why can't people just fucking use the words?

this hummus is going to taste extra good, delicately spiced with my anger and frustration.

phoenix rose · #4 03-11-2009, 04:47 PM

ok well
i looked in my super old cookbook that used to belong to my nana
and all directions given for cooking dried beans say that when you do (an overnight one) soak to use the same water you soaked them in to cook them in
and the recipes all say no more than 2 c water for 1 cup beans
i guess it depends how thick or watery you want them to be, preference

phoenix rose · #5 03-11-2009, 04:50 PM

blah so yeah
i am sure things have changed w. the times
as far as the new or old water thing
but i would say no more than 2x the beans you end up w. soaked or go w. the 3x your site said if you know how much you started with dried
if that made any sense