22 August 2008

Indian soy beans

Soy beans are tasty -- not just in their more usual forms such as tofu, soymilk, or edamame (or in their less-recognized forms like soy lecithin, for that matter). Anyhow, they are also good cooked like the their less-acclaimed "regular" bean cousins. However, they take much longer too cook. If you use a pressure cooker, the cook time is manageable, even quick... This is an eclectic meal I put together from ingredients we had lying around...

Start about 10 hours before the meal is to be cooked by soaking

1-1/2 cup dry soybeans

in room temperature water. (From my tofu-making experiments, I have a lot of soybeans.) I find stirring them occasionally gives a nice feel for how the soaking is going. There's not much need to be really careful about making sure the beans don't soak too long or short.

Once the beans are to be cooked, drain off the soaking water and place the soaked beans in the pressure cooker with

a few tablespoons oil and
cold water to cover -- not more than half the pot.

Pop the top on, and apply heat. When the pressure comes up, pay close attention that the pressure valve doesn't get clogged with foam or bean gunk. If it does, release the pressure immediately (douse with cold water in the sink) and reduce the water level before trying again. In any event, cook the beans at 15 pounds pressure for about 15-20 minutes.

While the beans are cooking, put

1/2 cup cracked wheat
1-1/4 cup water

in a medium saucepan, and boil covered. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook about 10 minutes. Add to the pot

8 oz. chopped spinach (frozen is fine)

and cook briefly.

Finally, fry

1 sliced onion
1 chopped carrot

in olive oil for a few minutes. When the onion is cooked, add

1 diced tomato and
1/4 cup water.

Cook until the carrot is softened slightly (I like reasonably firm carrots), and then combine the contents of the skillet with the saucepan. Add

1/2 packet of Shan vegetable curry mix

(contains salt, red chili, tumeric, fenugreek seeds, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.)

mix, and combine with the cooked soybeans.

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