Orca Beans

Orca Beans

DSCF4123I found these beans at Publix seemingly calling my name.  I love the coloration and the fact that I’d never seen this variety before.  I didn’t get a photo of the bag before cooking so you get to see an empty bag on my deck.  The brand is Bob’s Red Mill and I found them in the dried bean section.

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Here is the finished product.  I created a chilled bean salad for my first recipe.  Later I think I would like to try them in a soup or chili.

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Orca Bean Salad

4 cups cooked orca beans (cooked with onions and garlic)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup rice vinegar

juice of one fresh lime

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic minced

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 large tomato, chopped

salt and freshly ground cracked black pepper

Cook beans according to package directions.  (I used my pressure cooker and added a clove of garlic and 1/2 onion cut in large pieces along with the required water.  Do not add salt at this point if using a pressure cooker and dried beans.  See info below.)  In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, lime, onion, garlic, and parsley.  Fold in the tomatoes and beans.  Season with salt and pepper.  Chill several hours or overnight for best flavor.

I couldn’t believe how easy it was to use a pressure cooker to hydrate dried beans.  I am used to soaking and boiling and I still end up with bullet beans or overly cooked mush beans.  This time I had perfectly cooked beans in about 45 minutes.  Couldn’t have been easier.DSCF4118

I put one pound of beans in the pressure cooker with 8 cups of water, 4 teaspoons of oil, 1 sliced clove of garlic and 1/2 onion cut in large slices.  I left the onion and garlic in large slices because I wanted to retrieve them later. They impart flavor but go mushy and I didn’t want that texture in a cold salad.  If I had been making a bean soup I would have chopped them finer and left them in there. According to the manufacturer’s directions, you don’t add salt until after cooking because it will make the beans more tender if you don’t.

I now have an electric pressure cooker instead of the older traditional ones.  I have used both but do prefer the electric one.  Takes the stress and guesswork out of using it.  For this recipe the pressure cooker is set for 32 minutes however it did take about 15 minutes to come to pressure.  But I didn’t think 45 minutes from dried to delicious was an outrageous amount of time.

After cooking, I rinsed the beans and folded them into the salad.  I like the taste of the lime in this recipe.  It really brightens up the flavor.  The beans themselves have a dense creamy texture.  Very tasty in a salad and I’m sure would be good as a soup, too.

Off to my laundry mosh pit.  I dump my clean clothes on my spare bed and they await my folding, sorting, or ironing.  The pile gets high on occasion and sometimes I feel like jumping on it like a concert mosh pit.  Thankfully, I don’t and my dignity remains intact.

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3 Responses to Orca Beans

  1. Merry Carol September 26, 2015 at 11:08 am #

    First of all, have never seen that variety of dried beans and second, never heard of an electric pressure cooker…today’s posting has been quite educational:):)MC

    • Julie September 26, 2015 at 11:23 am #

      Yes! I love my electric pressure cooker. I originally used the old-style aluminum ones with the bobbling knob on top but I didn’t like cooking in aluminum and it was always hit or miss with the timing. The electric one I have is from Cuisinart and cost about $100. It came from Chef.com Here is the link http://www.chefscatalog.com/search Cuisenart has the best ratings of the ones I looked at. I would rate it highly, too.

  2. Sally Stempinski September 26, 2015 at 1:53 pm #

    The bean salad is delicious!

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