Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ufo 107 days ago
Even if soaked, beans still take hours to cook without a pressure cooker.
2 comments

I depends the beans and their freshness. If soaked and not 2yo+, it’s less than 1 hour for most of them. 30 min is enough for azuki and chickpeas if soaked 48h.

There’s other tricks: various beans can be found in the form of instant powder or flaskes (1 min watering - no cooking) semolina (5 min watering - no cooking) and pre steamed (no watering - 10/20 min cooking). I bring those to hike on the mountain and use gaz only to make them hot. Mixed with cereals semolina, spices, herbs and oil/nuts its the perfect submit meal.

What's your recipe that uses semolina? I do a lot of outdoor activities and I'm always trying to find new foods to try
I cook more with feeling than recipe and I as I hike for multi days I try to vary the meals to avoid getting bored. My typical bag includes multiples zip bag with ingredients and I pick a few to make a meal:

- semolina of wheat, whole wheat, rye, lentils and chickpeas

- flakes-instant smashed potatoes / adzuki beans. Instant quinoa packed with prots but miss carbs.

- sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds

- dried seasoning algae, yeast, zaatar or thyme. Curry powder or other spice mix.

One of my favorite mix is 1/3 lentil semolina, 2/3 wheat semolina, sesame seeds and yeast. Mix together, add water and cover for a few minutes.

Edit: last year I used a food dehydrator to pack some sauces and cooked vegetables. Works great for the ones in think slices.

Even without a pressure cooker, you can cook beans faster in a microwave oven.

However, you still need more than a half of hour if you want the beans to be soft, e.g. 45 minutes (after having soaked the beans for a half of day).

I cook all my food in a microwave oven. Except for beans, I have never encountered any vegetable that would need more than 15 minutes. For lentils or chickpeas, around 12 minutes is normally sufficient.