Sprouted Refried Beans (Sooooo good!)

I love sprouting! I often forget to sprout ahead of when I want the actual sprouted bean, but sometimes I remember. I wanted to cook some of our 25 pound bag of pinto beans I'd picked up at Costco a few months ago. My friend gave me the best recipe for vegan refried beans and my kids DEVOUR them at coffee hour when ever she brings them, so I got the recipe and it's InstantPot friendly and I got one of those last year and love it. I decided on an 8 quart InstantPot last summer after researching my brains out. Because my year has been so busy I haven't learned how to use it much yet... The Instapot and I are still dating and not in a full time committed relationship yet. But this recipe has helped me warm up to him quite a bit.

I use this sprouting method for all of my beans and our favorite is lentils because they sprout even faster. I have to use this bowl/strainer set up pictured below all the time now. I used to use jars more when we didn't have as many hungry teenagers.

My sprouting set up. The first night I soak beans in a big bowl of water.
In the morning I dump them into my spaghetti strainer and rinse them.
Then I put them into the bowl and put a random lid or a plastic plate
or saran wrap on top to trap in some of the moisture.
I also use sprouting jars (2 qt jars) and a sprouting screen if I'm doing smaller batches.

Can you see the tiny sprouts right in the middle?

I soaked about 5 1/2 cups of beans on Monday night (I think?) and today is Wednesday. This makes a LOT, you won't want this many if you have a smaller family. It nearly fills up my 8 qt pot once they are all cooked up. I knew I'd like to have a fasting/vegan food on Wednesday that the kids would gobble up and this is CHEAP and good for them especially when sprouted. When you sprout grains and legumes it removes the bad stuff (I forget the science name) on the outside that naturally preserves the grain and beans from bugs...but it doesn't let our bodies absorb the vitamins in the grain. So if you ONLY soak them for 12 hours you're helping your family out a ton. Sprouting it it starts to change the chemistry and turns it from grain/legume into a vegetable and makes it much healthier, upping the vitamins, nutrients and sometimes the protein. Amazing stuff.

Anytime after the initial 12 hour soak you can cook your beans, but if you rinse them once in the morning and once at night they'll start growing and then you can cook them as healthy little plants! You'll notice a considerable reduction in gas in the family if you eat a lot of beans and some people who can't eat beans at all because of gastrointestinal issues can eat these just fine. After you sprout you can cook any of your beans any way. But we love this way!

The handsome 8 qt InstantPot containing the beans, onions,
cumin and salt. Does not yet have salsa or water.

Turning it on is no small feat! I use the beans setting and put it for 20 minutes.
I think it should work for any soaked beans. This will PRESSURE COOK your beans...
so if you don't have a handsome InstantPot you can cook them on the stove
in a traditional manner in a normal pot for a much longer number of minutes...
you'll have to figure that one out. Basically you don't want them crunchy.

Note, my fingers are pushing the lever into the "pressurized" position.
Don't let this recipe sit on venting or it won't cook
in 20 minutes and it'll spit a lot at you.

Sprouted Vegan Refried Beans

5 cups pinto beans - soak and sprout 2 days in advance or do quick soak or overnight soak method as stated on the package
Put beans into the cooking pot then add:
1/4c minced dried onions
2 T garlic salt
2 T cumin
Water up to right UNDER the beans for sprouted beans...and just over for soaked beans.

Cook in your InstantPot on pressure cook for 20 minutes, then let the pressure slowly dissipate on it's own. Set your valve to pressure. Should take around 45 minutes in all. Carefully check your valve and carefully move it to venting with a wooden spoon. Close again if pressure starts bursting out and wait. Once it does not vent anymore you can remove the lid. If using a normal pot, cook as normal on the stove.

2-3 cups salsa-medium

1/2c. corn oil

Heat up oil in 8 qt dutch oven or other heavy bottom pot.

Carefully pour in beans into the hot oil. Let them fry for a bit then mash them up with an immersion blender or potato masher.

You can eat immediately with chips or tortillas. The next day they have set up firmly in the fridge and also the flavors have blended nicely. Use for burritos, tacos, quesadillas or freeze in 1 qt yogurt containers. If you freeze: thaw and fry your pre-frozen beans in a small frying pan (like with eggs, in oil or not) to get rid of the excess water that seems to come with freezing beans.

Enjoy!

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Here is the 8 quart InstantPot but people love the 6 quart also.

This is not the same immersion blender that
I have but it gets great reviews for the price!

I use my 1/2 gallon jars regularly.
To store grains, sprout grains, store goat milk, homemade juice...

Chick Pea Love

Advent is another vegan season for us. And as I get older the more I fall in love with "ethnic" foods. Such as Arabic, Indian and Mexican. There are many varieties in the spices that we don't have in American food and the more I eat it, the more it becomes comfort food. These are some staples with the traditional Chick Pea that are our favorites.

The hummus and the falafel recipe both require a food processor. I was 36 years old before I bought my first processor (just last year). I really thought I didn't need one...and I didn't. But there were more and more things that I just couldn't make like the recipe stated...so I cleaned out space in my cupboard and bought a used one. I'm so glad I did!

Note on the beans. I LOVE sprouting beans (as of this update 3/14/2019 I try sprouting all the beans before cooking them...) It takes an extra day or two but your tummy will be much happier with you. If there are certain beans your body can't tolerate try sprouting them first and see what happens. Try lentil hummus too, sprout them first. I have soy beans that I sometimes add in to my garbanzo beans when I make it too, ups the protein and helps get rid of my stash.

I canned 14 pints of chick peas on Saturday and made a giant batch of hummus for coffee hr on Sunday. We're ready for Advent!

Hummus
This recipe was given to me by a special friend...but this never had enough FLAVOR so I am altering it and adding in more good stuff 3.14.2019.

3 cans garbanzo beans - one with juice and two drained. Coarsely grind in a food processor. Save some juice in case you need more liquid later. Please note if it's canned from the store if there is salt or not, I almost always make my own beans, usually sprouted first, so I don't have any salt in mine.
1/2 c. lemon juice
1/2 c. tahini (I have used almond butter with good results)

1 Tbs cumin (this is not in many other recipes I see, I think it's a secret ingredient, I have only left this out of my basil pesto flavored hummus otherwise keep it in...)

2 tsp salt (probably less if your beans are pre salted, but probably more if they weren't salted)
Olive Oil -while processor is running, drizzle in about 15-20 seconds worth of olive oil (I have used peanut oil when we were fasting from olive oil, I have seen sunflower oil suggested too)
8-12 cloves minced garlic 

Season variation of the day we have made:

Herb Hummus: thyme, sage, oregano, black pepper, two tsp each of the herbs and 3/4tsp of pepper
Paprika Hummus: Smoked paprika 2-3 tsp smoked and regular paprika, 6-10 shakes cayenne pepper, (everyone likes this one)
Basil pesto Hummus: I use a premade-pesto packet or two in place of cumin and other spice (soooo good, everyone loved this!)
Indian Hummus: 2tsp Garam Masala, 1tsp coriander, 1tsp garlic powder 1tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp. ginger, 1tsp black pepper. Also used melted coconut oil for half of the oil to add the flavor.

Haven't had a chance to make these kinds yet:
Za'atar Hummus: Za'atar contains salt! We love za'atar but can't always find it, if you're Arabic you probably know where to find it and you obviously already know how to make hummus so you're likely not reading this blog post...)
Chives/scallions Hummus.
Roasted red pepper Hummus, top with pinenuts!
Olive Hummus

Add more seasonings 'till it tastes right. Try extra salt first, then tahini, lemon, olive oil. Flavors will blend if you let it refrigerate overnight. Process the heck out of it, the longer it stays in the blender the better it gets.

Before serving drizzle over with sumac, paprika or cayenne. Drizzle with olive oil. Serve with pita or chips.

Pita Bread
This recipe was given to us by the same friend. It is our go-to pita recipe now, I have made it twice this week already.

2 c warm water
2 Tbl dry yeast
-let yeast proof-
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbl olive or veg oil
5 cups flour
extra flour

Mix the 5 cups of flour into the wet ingredients. You want an almost sticky dough.

Let rise 'till doubled. Preheat oven and baking sheets at 450-500 degrees F. Punch down. Pull apart into 2" balls, form balls, place on a well floured surface. Starting with first formed balls (they have risen some by now) roll them out (remember extra flour) and place how ever many will fit on a baking sheet. They should take about 8-10 minutes to puff up and bake. Best to store in a bag right away to keep them soft and pliable. If you used too much flour they will be much more crispy and not as soft.

A bowl of hummus and fresh pita.

Falafels
For this recipe I give full credit to The Shiksa in the Kitchen. Her recipe is fantastic. It is the first and only one I have tried making from scratch (I used to buy boxes of falafel mix, a great alternate!) But after I bought the 25lb bag of dried chick peas I was committed to finding ways to use them. This recipe is so good and easy, it's worth trying. I think the reason I like it so much is it works perfectly and I never changed it.

1 lb (2 cups) dry chick peas/garbanzo beans
-cover with 3" of water and let them soak overnight or sprout them over a couple of days-
1 small onion, rough chopped
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley (I have used dried)
3-5 cloves garlic (she likes roasted)
1 1/2 Tbl flour
1 3/4 tsp salt 
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I almost always skip the hot stuff)
Pinch of ground cardamom
Veggie oil for frying (grapeseed, canola, or peanut)

Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans well. Pour them into your food processor along with the chopped onion, garlic cloves, parsley, flour, salt, cumin, ground coriander, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and cardamom. Pulse all ingredients together until a rough, coarse meal forms. Scrape the sides of the processor periodically and push the mixture down the sides. Process till the mixture is somewhere between the texture of couscous and a paste. You want the mixture to hold together, and a more paste-like consistency will help with that... but don't overprocess, you don't want it turning into hummus! I prefer mine more fine than coarse. Pour out into a bowl, mix with a fork, fish out large chunks, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate one or two hours.

This is the part where she lists all sorts of suggestions if it's not behaving itself and variations on the recipe. I'll skip to the frying...

Fill a skillet with oil to 1-1 1/2 inches. Heat slowly over medium heat. Form some falafels into round balls or small patties...I prefer small egg shapes I make with my table spoons. Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side to brown. Turn down heat if it goes much faster, heat up if it's too slow.

Drain on paper towels. Serve them traditionally with hummus and tahini sauce...or our favorite way is in a pita with lettuce, onion and tomato with some tzatziki sauce.

She also recommends other "add ons" such as:
Israeli salad
dill pickles
tabouli
french fries
sprouts
cucumber slices
roasted peppers
roasted eggplant
sunflower seeds
feta cheese
yogurt

Tzatziki Sauce
This is my "vegan version" of it. It's not as great as the sauce made with the yogurt, but it's a great sub-in if you don't eat dairy. Some people also prefer it with sour cream.

1 cucumber -peel, de-seed, and grate or chop very finely, put to drain in a sieve or cloth-
1 cup Vegeniase (you could try soy yogurt, but I always have Vegenaise on hand) 
1 Tbl lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbl chopped fresh dill (I use dry if it's winter)
salt and pepper to taste

Combine and let refrigerate 1-2 hours. 

Slather it on everything and enjoy!

Here is Shiksa's beautiful photo of her falafel.

And just for fun...every time I make hummus or falafels we must watch GoRemy's "Falafel Song" and the "Hummus Rap". They are a hoot.