Wrestling with Chickpeas

Food, Nutrition and Agriculture
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Wrestling with Chickpeas

Post by jennyjj01 »

I have a love hate relationship with these beggars! Every time I decide to use these in a recipe, I notice that I should have started soaking them a day or two ago! I just can't get any luck with the quick soak method that still takes an hour or more. Sooo impatient.

And now I read... " Beans that have been sitting in a pantry for a year or longer tend to go stale and will not cook up as nicely. "

Is that true?

Dammit, I have many kilos of these stored for two to four years. I notice they look a bit smaller than newer ones.

Should I chuck them or is there a way to use them that's worth the effort?

Meanwhile, this latest batch is going into my experimental vegan sheek and shami kebabs. Recipe to follow if I ever get something acceptable.
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jansman
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Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:16 pm

Re: Wrestling with Chickpeas

Post by jansman »

jennyjj01 wrote: Fri Nov 06, 2020 5:58 pm I have a love hate relationship with these beggars! Every time I decide to use these in a recipe, I notice that I should have started soaking them a day or two ago! I just can't get any luck with the quick soak method that still takes an hour or more. Sooo impatient.

And now I read... " Beans that have been sitting in a pantry for a year or longer tend to go stale and will not cook up as nicely. "

Is that true?

Dammit, I have many kilos of these stored for two to four years. I notice they look a bit smaller than newer ones.

Should I chuck them or is there a way to use them that's worth the effort?

Meanwhile, this latest batch is going into my experimental vegan sheek and shami kebabs. Recipe to follow if I ever get something acceptable.
It 's true that older beans take longer to cook,and do tend to be less than their best,shall we say? We use a lot of beans,as of recently,and soaking them properly is frankly, the best way.You have to get organised.

You can grow them in the garden.Mind you,if you have many kilos,it sounds like you can sow a field! Same old,though;store what you eat...
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

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Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

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pseudonym
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Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2011 10:11 am
Location: East Midlands

Re: Wrestling with Chickpeas

Post by pseudonym »

Two is one and one is none, but three is even better.
jennyjj01
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Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Wrestling with Chickpeas

Post by jennyjj01 »

jansman wrote: Fri Nov 06, 2020 6:43 pm You can grow them in the garden.Mind you,if you have many kilos,it sounds like you can sow a field! Same old,though;store what you eat...
I think I'll have a stab at sprouting some and popping them in a stir fry. I've done that before with damp mung beans in a jar and we quite like mung bean sprouts cooked or in salads. Chickpea sprouts, if they are even edible, will possibly be massive :)
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
Vitamin c
Posts: 1070
Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2020 1:16 pm

Re: Wrestling with Chickpeas

Post by Vitamin c »

Chickpeas are the only legumes that contain
Carbs
Fat
Protein.
Fill er up jacko...
jansman
Posts: 13623
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:16 pm

Re: Wrestling with Chickpeas

Post by jansman »

jennyjj01 wrote: Fri Nov 06, 2020 8:41 pm
jansman wrote: Fri Nov 06, 2020 6:43 pm You can grow them in the garden.Mind you,if you have many kilos,it sounds like you can sow a field! Same old,though;store what you eat...
I think I'll have a stab at sprouting some and popping them in a stir fry. I've done that before with damp mung beans in a jar and we quite like mung bean sprouts cooked or in salads. Chickpea sprouts, if they are even edible, will possibly be massive :)
Linkie! https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-sp ... as-2254129
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

Robert Frost.

Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

Me.
GillyBee
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Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:46 am

Re: Wrestling with Chickpeas

Post by GillyBee »

Sounds like you need to try pressure cooking them Jenny. It is the standard way of cooking beans in South America because it saves the need to soak first and they can be ready in about an hour from dry.

Here is a guide to cooking the beans in a pressure cooker without soaking to get you started.
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/h ... re_cooker/

(Sorry - the website is written in American and uses the ubiquitous Instant Pot but will work with any pressure cooker model.)

I find that pressure cooking also helps with the older beans staying hard problem although they may need an extra ten minutes. I usually cook a batch at a time and then throw them in the freezer in suitable quantities to make for quick and easy meals.
(I am not sure why red kidney beans need ten minutes boiling first as the pressure cooker will get them well above boiling point for 25-30 minutes)

N.B. I also find it helps to keep notes of how long YOUR beans take as this does seem to vary a bit and also depends on how you like them.
jennyjj01
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Re: Wrestling with Chickpeas

Post by jennyjj01 »

GillyBee wrote: Sat Nov 07, 2020 4:40 pmI am not sure why red kidney beans need ten minutes boiling first as the pressure cooker will get them well above boiling point for 25-30 minutes
As I understand it, Kidney beans have toxic qualities that need to be destroyed by boiling. The site is probably taking a belt and braces approach to safety... and to stop them getting dragged through the US court system

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Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
GillyBee
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Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:46 am

Re: Wrestling with Chickpeas

Post by GillyBee »

Now you have me digging around the web for the detail!

It looks as if it is the combination of water, temperature and time that does the trick. This abstract from the Journal of Food Science sums it up quite well:

The effect of temperature in destroying the hemagglutinin (lectin) activity in red kidney beans has been determined. Heating presoaked beans at 100°C for 15 min or at 80°C for 2 hr, or pressure cooking (15 psi) foi 45 min without presoaking, decreased the hemagglutinin activity to below detectable levels. At 65°C, no significant decrease was observed even after 12 hr heat treatment. Commercially canned beans have lectin levels similar to beans pressure cooked for 30 min.

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... dney_Beans

So pressure cooking from dry should be fine as long as you cook long enough and at high pressure - at least 30 mins and better 45 mins. This matches what I do and we have had no problems.
jennyjj01
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Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Wrestling with Chickpeas

Post by jennyjj01 »

GillyBee wrote: Sat Nov 07, 2020 7:48 pm So pressure cooking from dry should be fine as long as you cook long enough and at high pressure - at least 30 mins and better 45 mins. This matches what I do and we have had no problems.
Good research. Thanks.
I don't have a pressure cooker any longer, but I recall that it's main benefit was speed. 45 minutes for anything in a pressure cooker sounds a very long time and I doubt I'd have given so long. Sounds like your regime has been right, but maybe lucky too.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong