Autorin: Lisa Zhang
I read somewhere
that the year 2020 will be the year of the humble bean: environmentally
friendly, rich in nutrients, vegetarian and cheap. Not only are beans all of
the above, they are also delicious (when made in the right way) and the perfect
comfort food for a stressed-out student. You can always have a back-up bag of
dried beans or a can of already cooked beans lying around in the pantry. With a
few spices or condiments, you can turn the blandest beans into something
sumptuous.
When it
comes to beans, I would recommend that you invest in a hand blender in order to
turn beans, canned or soaked and boiled (if you have the time) into bean dips,
whether it be hummus, or just a pea pesto. You can of course also do the same
trick with a fork if you want to have a bit of an arm-workout. Hummus, is
incredibly easy to make. Take some ready-cooked chickpeas (approximately two
fists or a can), a teaspoon of tahini (or more, if you like your hummus with a
lot of tahini), one clove of garlic, lemon, drizzle with olive oil and then
blend. This goes incredibly well with both bread and vegetables you can cut
into strips – whether it be carrots, cucumber, celery or peppers. My favourite
bean dip is a white bean dip with herbs; any herbs will do although my
favourite combination is dill and parsley. Whizz the beans, add some lemon,
salt and pepper, and then combine with chopped herbs. That is truly delicious!
Cooked bean
dishes are equally easy to make. My favourite is to chop some vegetables
(imagine something sofrito-like, or what you would have as a soup-base), add
tinned tomatoes and beans, let simmer for a while until beans are tender. To
give it a middle-eastern touch, you can add cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves or
allspice into it. When done, serve with a slice of bread. Easy-peasy, yummy,
and healthy! If you want to make it more European, you can sprinkle a herb of
your choice on top when serving. Another favourite of mine that is perfect for
brunch is to make cannellini beans with onions, spinach, chopped tomatoes and
egg. Fry the onions in a pan, add the spinach, tomatoes and beans after the
onions have turned golden yellow. Let it simmer for a while until the tomatoes
have collapsed. Crack a few eggs on top, put on the lid, and wait until the
eggs are ready to your liking – whether you like the egg yolk to be runny or to
be a bit firmer.
A good thing with beans is that if you eat it with rice, you get a full
protein meal with all the amino acids your body needs. That is probably why
almost all bean-eating cultures have developed bean dishes in tandem with rice
– it is a match made in heaven. You can, for instance, try to make a chana
masala which is chickpeas in Indian spices or a Mexican black bean stew and
have it together with rice. You will not be left disappointed. For chana masala
you will have to invest in some spices such as cumin, coriander and chilli. For
the simplest version, first you will need to fry the spices until they are
aromatic (but be careful not to burn them!), then you add chopped onions and
garlic, and when they are cooked, add chopped tomatoes. Stir and let sit for a
few minutes. Add cooked chickpeas and wait. When the chickpeas are tender and
ready to be eaten, that is when the dish is done. For something simpler, why not try out a Greek
“Louvi me ta Lahana”, just cook black-eyed peas with chard/mangold, squeeze
some lemon on top and drizzle olive oil.
The Italian Baroque painter Annibale Carraci
often drew everyday scenes and one of his paintings, Mangiafagioli, depicts a
worker devouring a meal composed of bread and black-eyed peas with glistening
eyes. It is a striking image of someone who truly enjoys beans and serves as a
reminder that beans, this humble food, have sustained us for centuries, and
hopefully will for centuries to come.
