If you ever have trouble cooking beans from scratch, help is here! I have seen recipes that call for a piece of kombu when cooking beans but I never bothered mostly because the seaweed my son eats really grosses me out.
But, since I have had some challenges lately cooking beans -they seems to not come out as tender as they should – I knew it was time to figure something out. Adding a piece of kombu to the cooking process tenderizes the beans and they come out perfectly every time. And, it doesn’t effect the aquafaba (cooking liquid) in any way. My fab chocolate chip cookies come out even better!
It cannot be easier. Here is a package of kombu I picked up at the health food store.
This is what a piece of kombu looks like. (I had no idea!)
Cut a small piece to use for the beans, something like 3″ or so.
After soaking the dry beans overnight, drain the water. Rinse the beans and drop them into a cooking pot. Cover with new water and add the piece of kombu.
When the water is at a rolling boil, skim the foam off the top. Cover and cook for 45 minutes to an hour or until the beans are tender.
Remove the piece of kombu and toss it. At this point, you can drain the beans and save the aquafaba if you like to bake with it or make meringue. You can also freeze the beans in the cooking liquid. I like to freeze in 1 cup increments for easy access during the week.Enjoy!
Hi lisa How are you? I was taught to soak the beans with 1inch of kombu, then discard before cooking. Just another idea. Hope you are well. Xo Alissa
Alissa Michelin Nierenberg 917-446-6272
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thanks for that info! i have not seen that as a suggestion. will try it too!
I have found using very salty water for boiling helps, then rinse, but will try this one too as sometimes I like to keep the water.