Cooking with Beans

Instant Pot Black Beans

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry black beans  (or 2 C. dry beans which yields 6 C. cooked [4 - 15 oz. cans])
• 3 ½ cups water
• ½ onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt or to taste

Instructions

• Rinse and pick over dry beans to make sure there aren’t any small pebbles or other debris.
• Optional: Soak beans by placing beans in a large bowl and filling the bowl with cool, filtered water. Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for 8-12 hours. Then drain and rinse beans.
• Place black beans (soaked or unsoaked), water, onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder and pepper in Instant Pot. Stir.
• Close the Instant Pot lid and turn the steam release valve to the sealing position.
• Set the cook time using the Pressure Cook or Manual button, at high pressure:

  Unsoaked Beans: 25 minutes for firmer beans or 30 minutes for softer beans.

  Soaked Beans: 8 minutes for firmer beans or 10 minutes for softer beans.
• The Instant Pot will take about 10-15 minutes to reach pressure and then the cook time will begin counting down.
• When the cook time ends, allow the pressure to release naturally for 15 minutes (just leave the Instant Pot alone after the cook time ends).
• Quick release any remaining pressure by carefully moving the steam release valve to the venting position using the handle of a long spoon. Once all of the steam has escaped and the pin drops down, carefully open the Instant Pot lid.
• Stir in salt. Serve.

Notes

• To cook unseasoned black beans (for baking) omit all ingredients except for the beans and water and follow the method as written. Add salt after cooking, if desired. Plain beans with no salt or seasoning will taste very bland on their own. If you plan to add the black beans to your meals, you will probably want to add a little salt or other spices/seasonings.
• Beans can be cooled and then stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or in the freezer for 2-3 months in an airtight container.

Source: https://kristineskitchenblog.com/how-to-cook-black-beans-in-your-instant-pot/

As much as I love meat, I think that we as Americans eat way too much meat. It gets expensive, and it isn't very healthy. I think it's important that meat be in our diets, but not in the way we currently use it. I have been reading various meatless meals and learned a lot from books and reading online. I will share some with you. First, I wanted to cut down costs even more by using dry beans instead of canned ones. Someone gave a wonderful idea of equivalency. So now I know how to use these in recipes! http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080128040131AAyM7ax 

15-oz can beans = 1 1/2 cooked beans, drained 

1 pound dry beans = 6 cups cooked beans, drained 

1 pound dry beans = 2 cups dry beans 

1 cup dry beans = 3 cups cooked beans, drained 

 i highly recommend this awesome recipe! my friends and family can never get enough!! http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/v… 

 Great Bean Recipes http://www.centralbean.com/recipes/Recipe_List.html http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:1en1YtAQQNYJ:extension.usu.edu/duchesne/files/uploads/FCS/Cooking%2520with%2520Food%2520Storage/dry%2520beans_plus.pdf+dried+beans+canned+beans+equivalent&cd=21&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us 

Hints: 

1. Rinse all beans and legumes in cold water. Remove all dirt, rocks, or bad beans. 

2. Add ⅛ tsp. baking soda and 1 Tbsp. cooking oil to each cup of beans while soaking. This will shorten the cooking time and decrease foaming. 

3. Add meat, onions, celery, and herbs during cooking to add more flavor. Add tomatoes, catsup, vinegar and other acid foods after the beans are tender. The acid prevents softening of the beans. 

4. Cooked beans freeze well and will keep up to 6 months in the freezer This link gives information on cooking with beans including canning them and also cooking them in a pressure cooker (check out the short amount of time! I hear it's better to soak them first though to keep them from plugging up the hole).  

It also has some bean recipes. http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:1en1YtAQQNYJ:extension.usu.edu/duchesne/files/uploads/FCS/Cooking%2520with%2520Food%2520Storage/dry%2520beans_plus.pdf+dried+beans+canned+beans+equivalent&cd=21&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us 

 In the past, I have cooked dried beans of mine in the crockpot... with no soaking... cooking on high about 8 hours. It made things so easy. It looks like someone else did similar... plus a nice recipe for refried beans (although I have my own recipe) http://www.beingfrugalisfabulous.com/2009/06/using-dried-beans.html And last, I found a sample of a cookbook on google books which seemed useful even with what was shown. The book is called "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook http://books.google.com/books?id=cDNRHs_f5P8C&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=dried+beans+canned+beans+equivalent&source=bl&ots=cLzYhphu0c&sig=qXJaEsi9Bwtxu0mtiYZqXpPFz-s&hl=en&ei=bKPKSuGUMtuQtgfQ3NjtAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=28#v=onepage&q=dried%20beans%20canned%20beans%20equivalent&f=false