Bean Cooking Guide
Soak Beans overnight if possible. Drain soaking liquid and replenish with cold clear water to cover in non reactive pot. Bring to a quick boil then turn off heat and let sit for 20 minutes. Drain water again (this is the third time), replenish water to cover by two inches. Bring to a low boil, turn down to simmer till tender. During the second boil you can add several pieces of kombu, a tsp of baking soda, vegetable stock base and seasonings.
Legume Cooking Guide
Lentils – Red, Yellow, Brown, Lentils de Puy, Black Beluga– Rinse thoroughly. Put in pot and cover with water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil let sit for 20 minutes. Drain and rinse. Return to pot with vegetable stock and seasonings to cover. Bring to a high simmer and cook till tender. Lentils de Puy or French lentils will be much harder to the bite than the other varieties and take longer.
Split peas – Rinse thoroughly. Put in pot and cover with water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, turn off and let sit for 20 minutes. Drain and rinse. Return to pot with vegetable stock and seasonings to cover. Bring to a simmer and cook till tender.
Grain Cooking Guide:
Quinoa – Comes as white, red, or black micro grains – Rinse thoroughly to remove saponin. Put clean quinoa in pot with water to cover by at least 2 to 4 inches, Bring to a boil, lower to simmer for about 8-10 minutes until “worm” pops out. Drain in fine mesh sieve.
Millet– small round yellow circles. Bring 2 cups water to a boil add 2/3 cup millet reduce to simmer for about 20 minutes. Millet will get mushy and disintegrate so watch it carefully! Taking on flavor of whatever it is paired with.
Farro wheat – 2 ½ cups water to one cup faro wheat – (the whiter the wheat the quicker it cooks) –bring to a boil then lower to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
Rye berries – 2 1/2 cup liquid, one cup berries, cook on low simmer for almost an hour. You can soak overnight to reduce cooking time to about 20 minutes.
Spelt, Kamut and Wheat Berries– Rinse thoroughly to remove grit. Bring 2 1/2 cups liquid medium to a boil, add 1 cup grain, reduce to a simmer and cover for about 40 minutes. Depending on how they were dried, they will cook at different times so keep checking! Drain.
Steel cut Oats – bring 3 cups water to a boil sprinkle in one cup oats slowly, stirring constantly, cover and reduce to simmer for 40 minutes to an hour.
Polenta– Yellow granular corn meal – Polenta is really a “feel right” kind of thing. Start with 3- 4 cups boiling veg stock and whisk in up to 1 cup polenta. I always add some earth balance or coconut oil and herbamare and white pepper early on. Leave to cook for about 10 minutes stirring constantly, it should be thick but creamy and not gritty. There is a lot of testing and tasting involved to get this one just right. Cooking times and quantities vary depending on brand of polenta once you find a brand you like stick with it (I am very fond of Roland) I often add roasted onion and smart balance to polenta as I am cooking for creaminess.
Teff (looks like microscopic brown dots) 2 cups boiling water- 1/2 cup teff on high simmer about 15 minutes. Drain.
Jasmine Rice or Basmati Rice or Green Bamboo Rice–
GET A RICE MAKER – one cup plus a smidge water to one cup rinsed rice – almost even ratio and sprinkle herbamare, press button, and voila!
STOVETOP 2 cups water plus sprinkle of herbamare to boil on stove, add one cup dry rice, bring to boil again, cover lower to simmer and cover, 15- 20 minutes and fluff
Wild Rice – 1 cup wild rice to 4 cups vegetable stock or water, bring liquid to a boil and add rice and simmer for 35-40 minutes. Kernels will burst – drain – add seasonings to taste.
Sushi Rice – follow directions for jasmine rice in rice maker and when cooked add 1 TB rice wine vinegar, heavy pinch of sea salt and 2 tsp sugar to 2 cups cooked rice. Toss till cooled and incorporated
Brown Rice, Black Rice or Red Rice —- follow direction above for stovetop only rinse the rice and do about one cup rice to 1 ¼ – 1 ½ cups water. There are a million different varieties of rice so check ratios on packages.
Pearled Barley – Rinse one cup barley and put in pot with three cups boiling water then cook at high simmer, covered for 40 minutes
Hulless Barley – same as above only cook about 60 minutes and watch liquid levels!
Bulghur types
Fine – Boil mixture of vegetable stock and vegetable juice then measure out equal amount of fine bulghur and pour boiling liquid over fine bulghur. Drizzle with dash of olive oil, stir thoroughly from the bottom and cover with saran wrap. Let steam for 20 minutes.
Medium – 2 cups vegetable stock to one cup bulghur, boil first then high simmer for at least 15-20 minutes and remove from heat and cover.
Coarse – 4 cups liquid medium, personally I like a combination of vegetable stock and tomato juice add 1 cup of coarse bulghur and bring to boil until liquid mostly absorbed. Stir, remove from heat and cover for 20 minutes then fluff.
Amaranth – Tricky little bugger – Sauté 1 cup amaranth till toasty in dry skillet or with 1 TB olive oil for about two to five minutes then add 2 ½ cups liquid and bring to a boil. Cover and lower heat for 20 – 25 minutes then fluff
Couscous – Boil mixture of vegetable stock and tomato juice. Then measure out equal amount of couscous – this is a one to one ratio. Pour boiling liquid over couscous, drizzle with olive oil, stir thoroughly cover with saran wrap and let steam for 20 minutes. Fluff.
Buckwheat Groats or Kasha – You can toast these first on a dry hot pan for a little extra flavor or you can just boil 2 cups water , add 1 cup grain, lower to simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
Millet – 3 cups liquid medium to 1 cup millet, bring to a boil and lower to a simmer for about 25 to 30 minutes. For sweet millet use fruit juice, for savory, vegetable stock.