Bean there, done that?

I am one of “those” that loves the pickled mixed bean salad with kidney beans, garbanzos, wax beans, green beans and a zingy sweet/tart dressing.
Don’t cook dried beams much but also love baked beans and bean soups as well as split pea soup. One favorite is veggie burritos with good refried beans and all kinds of veggies and alfalfa sprouts. Mmmm good!
Chili is another, I use pinto, black, kidney and small red beans along with scads of red, yellow and orange peppers, onions, various mild chilis and cracked red pepper

Here’s my favorite place for beans. I love them all.
http://pineridgegrocery.com/

@Coloma I thought I was the only other person who loves that bean salad! I can eat bean and cheese burritos until the cows come home, there have been weeks where I have eaten one every day, but I have to mix it up and get them from different places and use different salsas. There’s enough places around town that provide lard free vegetarian pinto beans, so that’s good news. Trader Joe’s has delicious vegetarian baked beans and I have a couple of recipes that I haven’t yet tried. Going to bust out that crock pot soon, though.

@Adirondackwannabe I don’t think we have those stores out here in California, but if I’m ever in your neck of the woods I shall venture in : )

I’m not thrilled with lima beans, although I have had them in some dishes, an Indian curry as I recall where they were OK. On the other hand, I love butter beans, which are the ripe mature version of lima beans. Not that thrilled with black eyed peas either, but again, I’ve had them in Indian food and they were fine. Other than that, I love pretty much all the beans I’ve tasted.

I had Campbell’s Golden Lentil with Madras Curry soup the other day. I don’t know if they’re still making it or it may be discontinued, because I got it at the 99 Cent store. Glad I bought two containers of it. It was as good or better than most of the lentil dals I’ve had in Indian restaurants!

White navy beans in chili or bean soup.

Favorite type of bean is butter beans, can’t think of any strickly vegetarian recipes at the moment but there are quite of few meat dishes that I use them in including ox tail mmmmmmm

Try this Black Eye Pea Gumbo but substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth. VERY good.

I am a HUGE fan of dals. I am trying to pick out my favorite right now and having a hard time. Dals are Indian style lentils. Here is one of my favorites. It has red lentils, but I’ve also used Mung beans

We have Aldi’s and Butera that are the bargain priced grocers with the best prices on food stuffs like beans. I have about 7 different beans in the cabinet and what I use depends on the dish. I have 2 types of garbanzo, red bean, black eyed, split peas, mung beans, lentils and chickpeas. I often will combine just a random assortment cook the beans and add some chopped onions, veggies and herbs with a little oil and rice vinegar. Same for a ham and bean soup.

The trick is to always soak them overnight before cooking and I think most everybody knows this.

I tried fava beans because of the Hannibal Lector series or I’d not have a negative connotation of a bean, pea, or legume. (Or live brains, for that matter) As it is, fava are like baby lima’s great grandparents.

Unfortunately, the S/O will not hear of a bean, pea/legume touching the meal. Nor onions. No carrots. (Are you weeping yet, @Kardamom)??

Make ahead of time and let marinate. May be doubled or tripled. Even small picky eaters love this. Needs to age a few hours.

Black and White Bean Salad (Yield: 8–10 servings)

2 cans drained black beans (you can be pure and start with dried beans)
2 cans drained small white beans ( ditto)
1 can drained corn, 14 oz. frozen corn (or cook fresh corn and scrape, scrape, scrape)
1 C chopped red onion
1 C chopped red pepper

2 C. Cumin Vinaigrette (I use 1½).  Use whisk for all mixing. Add EVOO last.

¼ C cider vinegar and ¼ C fresh lime juice
1 T dijon mustard
1 t freshly minced garic
¼ cup fresh cilantro (the vital ingredient), finely chopped
1½ C EVOO, cumin and curry to taste.
Salt and pepper to taste. (Kosher and ground).

If you’re into decorating, garnish w sprigs of fresh cilantro

If you include Channa dahl (they are a legume after all), you may like to try this recipe:

DHAL WITH GREEN CORIANDER & TOMATO
The addition of fresh coriander and tomato is a wonderfully successful variation on a simple dhal. Serve with rice.

2 cups channa dhal
1½ teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup oil
1½ teaspoons garam masala
4 la_rge cloves garlic, chopped
1-inch piece ginger root, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped

Rinse dhal thoroughly, until water is clear. In a generous-sized pot, cook dhal in water with turmeric and salt. Once it has boiled, turn heat down very low and simmer slowly with the lid on. As the dhal cooks, add more boiling water as necessary. Cook until dhal is soft and creamy and like the texture of thick cream. If mixture seems too thin, remove lid to reduce liquid, stirring frequently. When dhal is the right consistency, turn off heat.
Heat oil in a small frypan. When oil is hot, add garlic, ginger and garam masala. Fry for about 3–4 mins but do not allow mixture to burn. Add tomato and coriander. Stir and cook until tomatoes are beginning to soften. Stir this mixture into the cooked dhal and heat through. Serve over rice.

Refried beans made with lard.

If I were to pick one favorite kind, I guess it would be garbanzos, but I like beans in general. I have a good multi-bean soup recipe that I make several times every year, in cold weather. I have a good chickpea curry recipe, too! Don’t have time to share them right now but I can do it later if anyone’s interested.

@Adagio That’s our favorite Indian recipe and I usually make it most of the time. I also use Split Green Gram or Split Red Lentil.
I love kidney beans and love adding it along with garbanzo beans in salads. I also love red kidney beans in beef chili. You must try Veg- Head Three- Bean Chilli. I just loved it.
I normally soak dried beans in water for about eight hours or overnight before cooking. If not a simple way would be to put them in cold water; bring them to a boil and off the heat, Let it sit in the water for 1 to 2 hours. Later drain off the water and add cool water to cover by one inch and then you can start cooking.
Here in Dubai 400gm of dried beans cost around AED 6.50 which equals around 1.77 US Dollar. Try canning your dry beans “dry”, without water.The shelf life is much longer. You can get it cheaper if you purchase in bulk from your local supermarket or ethnic grocery store.