Sprouting 101

Every time I think I’ve learned “all I need to know” about storing, cooking and enjoying food, I manage to prove myself wrong. Case in point: Sprouting – particularly grains and beans. We lean towards the “veggie” perspective (pretty strictly, for quite a number of years). However, as we’ve simultaneously gotten a little older and dramatically reduced our intake of legumes, our ability to digest them has decreased. So I’ve been scouting around for ways to make it easier for us to handle them. We tried the digestive enzyme sold specifically for this purpose, which helped some, but didn’t cure the problem. I also tried soaking the beans (refrigerated) for several days, changing the water twice a day. Perhaps it would have worked better if they had been kept at room temperature (which is what the instructions generally recommend), but I just wasn’t comfortable with that idea. Then I discovered sprouting. (Rediscovered, more accurately.) And have been pleasantly surprised by a number of things. First, food that is sprouted expands quite a bit, and so will go a lot further – literally stretching one’s food dollar! Second, beans that have been sprouted really are far easier to digest. Sprouted beans (or grains) store nicely in the fridge for days, needing only an occasional rinse to keep them fresh, so there’s very little waste. (Proponents say the nutrients in sprouted foods become much more bio-available, but the research I’ve read has been conflicting on that point.) An unexpected bonus: Because they are sprouted ahead of time, and because so little results in so much food, it’s easy to keep them on hand, ready to cook at a moment’s notice. So if I haven’t taken anything out of the freezer to thaw, I can still put dinner on the table in a flash! The only disadvantage, if there is one, is that sprouted beans tend to stay a little on the crunchy side unless cooked really thoroughly – but even slightly crunchy sprouted beans are remarkably easy to digest! Our sprouting experiment started with wheat, and expanded into garbanzos, cranberry beans (which look like overgrown pintos), lentils and pink beans. (The only beans that haven’t worked all that well, so far, are pintos and black beans.) The wheat has been fun – after sprouting, I ground some to add to the dough for sourdough tortillas, which gave them a nice flavor – took the edge off the sourdough. I also dried some, which I later ground into flour. I’d read that flour ground from sprouted grains can be used in pretty much the same way as traditional flour, and so tossed it into the bread machine with the rest of the ingredients for my favorite bread recipe. Wasn’t sure how it would really work – sprouting, I reasoned, must change the gluten in some way, but it actually made a very nice loaf of bread. A little gummy, perhaps, but the flavor was nice nonetheless. I’ve also taken the wheat sprouts, just as they are, as a snack for work. And the beans have been fun. It’s been great to enjoy these protein-packed foods again, without any of us suffering digestive distress. And legumes of all stripes are a huge boon in a food storage plan -- high quality protein, shelf stable, can be stored for years, and each pound in storage is worth at least three pounds on the table! Most sprouted beans need to be cooked, and can be used in pretty much any recipe calling for dried beans. One concern I had was convincing my family to try them. I used a three-prong approach: educate them about the benefits of sprouted foods; use them in foods they already enjoy; and offer something else as a backup, just in case. I knew I’d probably face a mutiny if I simply announced one evening that we’d be enjoying pan-fried lentil sprouts with our brown rice and salad. Fortunately, there was some leftover pizza in the fridge. So I cooked the lentils briefly with some garlic, seasoned them with a little soy sauce, and politely asked everyone to have a bite "to taste it". To my surprise and delight, they actually wanted a serving along with their pizza. Cool!! Sprouting most grains and beans is about the easiest kind of “cooking” there is: Put the grains or beans into a jar or other container (they need plenty of room to expand – no more than a cup of beans in a quart jar, and 2/3 or so is better), rinse, then fill the jar with cool water. Cover the jar with cheesecloth or a clean dishcloth, or, if it’s a canning jar, one of those plastic mesh lids with holes especially designed for this purpose (you could also use plastic window screen material, or any other rust-proof material that lets the jar drain). Leave at room temperature for 8 – 12 hours (or a little longer), then drain. Rinse and drain a couple of times a day, until little tails appear. (This usually only takes a day or two.) How long the tails should be allowed to get depends on the intended use. Sprouted beans can be used in virtually any recipe that calls for dried beans. I’ve even used sprouted white beans, which I accidentally cooked until they disintegrated, as the base for a pasta sauce. Here’s how I made the sprouted lentil dish: Pan-fried Lentil Sprouts Butter Small handful slivered garlic (I used some from a batch of lacto-fermented pickles) 2 cups sprouted lentils, tails 3/8” or so Soy Sauce Heat the butter in a frying pan and add the garlic. Saute, stirring frequently, for a few minutes. It’s ok if they end up lightly browned. Add the lentils and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 – 15 minutes (add a little water if necessary). Add soy sauce to taste. Enjoy. Read more!

Pressure Cooking: The Adventure Continues

How many times have I thought of something I'd like to make for dinner, but couldn't because I hadn't planned ahead and soaked the beans, thawed the chicken or done some other bit of indispensable prep work? These days, thanks to a kitchen marvel called a pressure cooker, it's no problem!! In fact, I've found this piece of equipment so useful that I've purchased a second one!!

The first cooker that I purchased was the familiar rocker-type, a 6-quart model (Presto), and I fell instantly in love with it. In fact, since it arrived, I haven't used the stove for regular cooking -- except for a dinner of fried rice, which definitely cannot be done in the pressure cooker. Today, a "new generation" cooker (8-quart, also a Presto), with a pressure release mechanism in the lid, arrived. And tonight, I used them both to cook dinner. The smaller one handled the artichokes, while I tossed together a Shrimp Bisque from Toula Patsalis's "The Pressure Cooker Cookbook" in the new one. Because the soup recipe is somewhat involved (several more steps than I would normally consider, but, hey -- I was celebrating my new piece of equipment!!), dinner took longer than it usually would when using a pressure cooker, but the results were well worth it!! I did substitute brown rice for the white, but otherwise I followed the recipe pretty carefully. Oh -- and instead of running cold water over it when the shrimp were cooked, I let the steam off with the release mechanism, so the shrimp were probably a little more done than they needed to be, but it still turned out very nice. And it was good to know that my husband was heading off to an evening meeting well fed.

I've been doing a bit of reading, and am intrigued by all the things you can cook, and the ways you can cook them, in a pressure cooker. You can, of course, put things like soups and beans directly into the cooker. But you can also prepare several different kinds of foods at the same time, if you put them into individual containers -- so long as they fit into the cooker with at least a half-inch to spare on all sides. You can stack them, too -- provided you don't fill the cooker more than 2/3 full. Small stainless steel bowls are ideal, and ovenproof casserole dishes and ramekins are second-best. The stainless heats up both quickly and evenly, while ceramic cookware heats unevenly and requires a little extra cooking time. What this means is that you can virtually cook a whole meal -- including dessert -- at the same time. Using a quick-release method will allow you to cook meats or beans, grains or potatoes and various veggies to perfection.

I had just a few small ovenproof cooking vessels, and decided I wanted to try to find some small stainless containers. So I headed for one of the larger thrift stores in my area. A walk down the aisle of their kitchen section turned up only a 2-cup, lidless Corningware casserole, which, of course, I grabbed. Disappointed that I hadn't found more, I was turning to leave when I noticed a woman rummaging through a bin I'd walked right by without noticing. I sidled up to the opposite end of it and started sifting through the mismatched pots and lids, serving trays, cookie sheets, etc. And, whaddya know -- hidden among the pots and pans were little silver jewels -- stainless steel serving bowls, probably former residents of some defunct resaurant, and not one priced more than $1!! So I scooped up all that I could find and made my way to the register. After a trip through the dishwasher, they'll be ready to be pressed into service.

Admittedly, I'm still learning to time things (which means things often end up either over- or under-cooked), but each time I cook this way, things come out a little better!

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The Joys of Pressure Cooking

What a cool adventure this pressure cooking is!! Besides the energy (and time) savings, it has really freed me up in terms of dinner preparation. In times past, I dreaded the idea of coming home and having to cook dinner. To be painfully honest, some days, it was just more than I could face.

In fact, in an effort to make dinner preparations easier to manage, I recently made up a spreadsheet with about 2 months' worth of dinners, complete with instructions like "thaw pork", or "soak beans", for the next day's meal. It does help, although I find that I usually only follow it for a few days at a time.

Enter the pressure cooker. Now, if I haven't planned ahead, I can toss in some frozen chicken or pork, (I cut it into bite-sized pieces before freezing, and pack in no more than half-pound packages), and add some sauce and a little water. If I don't have any rice cooked and haven't planned ahead for (homemade) garlic bread or the like, I might put the rack (came with the pressure cooker) on top, put in some quartered, seasoned potatoes (I make a foil "bowl", making sure there's clearance all the way around), and let 'er go. In a very short time (about 30 minutes), dinner is ready.

Dried beans are amazingly quick, too. Conventionally soaked or "speed soaked" (thanks, Lorna Sass!!), they cook in anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes. If you're speed soaking, the whole thing, soak to table, can be done in 30 - 40 minutes!

There are so many advantages to pressure cooking: Saves time, energy and nutrients; tenderizes inexpensive (tough) cuts of meat as well as the crockpot; takes about a third the time and uses about a third the energy of conventional cooking methods; cleanup is generally pretty easy -- because you're cooking with steam, things tend not to stick as they might with dry heat...

And an unexpected bonus is that it's actually opened up our daily dinner options. Even if I haven't planned head, I can still put virtually any meal that might be cooked on the stovetop, and even a lot of things that are usually cooked in the oven, on the table in record time. The key is that the dish must either have enough liquid in it to make the required steam, or it must be cooked in an ovenproof casserole or steel bowl (or canning jars!!) covered with foil, with water in the bottom of the cooker. For example, we recently attended a concert, and got home right around dinner time. On the drive home, I decided to cook beans. As soon as we walked in, I tossed a cup of beans into the cooker with 3 cups of water and brought it to pressure. About 40 minutes later, we were sitting down to a hot, homecooked meal that was much better (and healthier!) than the restaurant fare we would probably otherwise have had -- and we saved money, in the bargain! I can spot ribs on sale in the local paper, pick some up on my way home from work, and have a nice ribs & garlic mashed potato dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes from when I walk in the door. We haven't had occasion yet, but it's nice to know that, sometime when we're in the middle of a project and dinnertime is suddenly upon us, we can save the $25 or so we might otherwise have spent on a bucket of chicken, and have a nice hot, quickly home-cooked meal, instead.

And if it wasn't enough that you can cook a complete meal in one of these babies, you can also whip up a dessert, as well. DH is not a big dessert fan, so I've been perfecting the art of making custard for one. It's amazingly easy: Put 1/2 cup of milk, an egg, a little sweetener and a little vanilla in a small ramekin or canning jar (both work equally well), mix thoroughly and grate a little nutmeg on top. Put in the cooker with the required amount of water, turn on the heat & cook 8 minutes at high pressure. Quick release the pressure, take the ramekin out, and, viola -- custard for one!!

With so many advantages to this kind of cooking, I'm puzzled when folks, as they typically do, show only polite interest!! Maybe it's because of the reputation these cookers once had, or because it would mean an initial extra expense. But modern pressure cookers are very safe when used according to the manufacturers' directions, and experience has shown me that the time and money these amazing things save quickly more than makes up for the initial expense -- even if one were to purchase one of the more expensive models, with all the bells and whistles!!


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