BS: dried peas from India

Subject: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 01:20 PM

I get together with friends once a month. We have soup, then we play early music. One of them gave me some dried peas she had bought in an Indian grocery store. They are gray-green and about 1/4 inch in diameter.

Cooking these peas is like trying to cook ball bearings. I believe I left the first batch in the slow cooker for two days. The second time, I put them in the fridge to soak on Thursday, cooked them all day Saturday, and they still weren't smooth.

I have one batch left. I need two kinds of suggestion:

1. How to reduce cooking time

2. How to add an Indian flavor without having to buy too many new items which will not be used again. (I looked up an online recipe, and I believe it would cost me $10 to cook 99 cents worth of peas.)

I realize that there's another use for them. I could always store them near the basement stairs, and if someday a crazed killer is pursuing me, I could throw them behind me, and the killer would slip on the ball bearings and plunge down the staircase so I could escape. But that wouldn't be a very green solution

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,livelylass
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 01:44 PM

Hmm, it's possible they may be old. The older dried pulses get, the tougher they become and consequently the longer they take to cook.
But to cut to the chase, I wouldn't use a slow cooker at all. They need fast boiling in plenty of water for fifteen minutes then moderately fast simmering for up to another hour maybe, rather than long slow low temperature cooking. Pre-soak them all day/all night before cooking. In fact if possible pressure cook them in a pressure cooker for thirty to forty minutes. You should be fine. As for flavourings a straightforward 'garam masala' mix should be ideal. The cooked peas & garam masala mix added and simmered into a veggie base 'sauce' of tinned tomatoes, fried onions and / or spinach, served with rice or flat breads would be lovely.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 01:47 PM

Your description sounds like the kind of dried peas that used to be common in the UK.

The trick is not to add salt or acid to them until near the end of cooking. Do they need to taste Indian? Mint tastes good with them (again, add it near the end) - they don't need fancy treatment.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,livelylass
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 01:55 PM

PS I'll see if I can find more accurate timings for you from some of my tatty old books! But from your description, it sounds as though whatever they are should be treated like chickpeas/garbanzo.

PPS If you buy a small jar of Garam Masala, you will be able to use it in basically anything else you fancy adding a touch of curry flavour too, chicken, fish, soup, kedgeree, whatever..

PPPS instead of adding to a veggie sauce base once cooked up (as I put it above), add the Masala mix to the frying onions at the very beginning - this releases all the aromas and is heaven!

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,livelylass
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 02:06 PM

Sigh, sorry - I think I'm sounding totally incoherent here!

What I'm saying is as the peas/beans seem tricky to get soft, cook your peas separately first. When they are cooked, you can refrigerate or freeze them in batches.

Make a sauce to add the cooked beans to, in a separate pan (so you're not watching it go 'blip blip' for hours before ending up with still hard beans in a gloop with a thick black crust on the bottom of your pan as I have done in past).

When making the sauce, fry the Garam Masala (couple of teaspoons to begin with if unsure, you can add more later if you like it) with the onions before adding tomatoes & spinach (and/or diced potatoes/aubergine/peas - whatever you like).

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: Micca
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 02:09 PM

Sounds like dahl to me,(usually (but not always split) lentilspeas or other hard pulses, many recipes on line esp.for Tarka dahl (like ordinary dahl but a little 'otter)

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: gnu
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 02:22 PM

Have you tried cooking them as you would split peas? Rapid boil for two minutes, remove from heat, cover tightly and let stand one hour, add stuff, boil 45 minutes or longer for desired consitency.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 02:26 PM

Soak overnight in cold water with added baking soda, 1 teaspoonful per pound weight.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: gnu
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 02:36 PM

My SiL used to use baking soda to soak beans for 3 hours before baking them rahter than soaking them overnight. YEEECCCCHHHH! But, I assume it would be okay with those peas if John says it is. He's quite the culinary-ist.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,livelylass
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 02:43 PM

Followup to previous suggestion to try pressure cooking your pulses (after first soaking overnight): I looked online and the average time given (for bigger beans/peas rather than split peas and lentils) was 30 - 40 minutes on HIGH pressure.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,999
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 02:53 PM

leeneia: how far above sea level are you?

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 04:16 PM

If I'm not in a hurry, I generally wash and then soak any dried beans in cold water in the refrigerator for "an indefinite period" which may turn into a week or so. Usually they are okay after about 24 hours, but a couple of days seems better for most. In a slow cooker, they seem not to absorb much moisture, and although they may get softer they never get "plump." Old and very dry beans may need a significantly longer soak than fresher ones, but if they don't get properly swollen before you start the cooking they're unlikely to be "properly hydrated" when done.

A pressure cooker will cook ordinary beans quite rapidly, and that was my first thought here. Navy or "pea beans" can be done in about 15 minutes (at 15 psi), even with "inadequate pre-soaking" but need "more than an hour or two" in a normal simmering pot.

You should be aware that most beans tend to produce a "frothy foam" when simmered in a pressure cooker that can plug the rather tiny vent hole (or the hole to the gage, if you have that kind) in the pressure cooker, leading to a buildup to unsafe pressures. Most pressure cooker instructions warn that you shouldn't cook "starchy things" in them, and beans generally appear to be one of the things they mean.

I've found the problem manageable if you never fill the pressure cooker more than about a third of its depth, bring the temperature up a little slower than usual, and then set the "time between wiggles" of the regulator weight a little longer than for less touchy stuff. If it seems to have "stopped venting" usually just tapping the weight will get a "venting" so you'll know the hole is clear. If you can't get it to blow some steam, the safest procedure is to put the whole pot in the sink and run cold water on it until it's "cool to the touch." Take the lid off carefully and clean the hole. If needed, you can restart the cooking when you've made it entirely safe.

Some "more modern" pressure cookers may have better provisions for a wider variety of "foods" but mine is the "traditional archaic kind."

YMMV.

John

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: catspaw49
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 04:28 PM

Soak for three days in a salt brine
Rinse and soak in Vinegar for 24 hours
Rinse well and then allow to stand in milk/water mixture(80/20)for 8 hours
Boil peas on high heat for 15 minutes (rolling boil)
Remove from heat and place in slow cooker for 48 hours
Allow to cool naturally the put them in a suitable closed container
Place container in trash bin til curbside pickup
Go to a good Indian restaurant with your spouse or a friend



Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: gnu
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 04:30 PM

I have never used a pressure cooker. I am under too much pressure to take any chances.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 05:24 PM

I don't have a pressure cooker, so that's out.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll see if I can find some garam masala anywhere near. Funny thing - I think I used to have some, but it was a powder. Whatever it is, I agree that it should be added at the end of cooking to preserve flavor.

Spaw, there is something to be said for your approach, but the restaurant probably wouldn't like it when we broke out the instruments, esp. the bodhran.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,livelylass
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 05:33 PM

If Garam Masala is hard to come by just get any old 'Curry Powder' mix Leeneia, I'm sure it'll do. Mind you, as an aside, Indian spiced pulses (be they chickpeas, red lentils or green lentils etc.) can be so tasty and cheap they are definitely worth finding out about.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 06:05 PM

Lentils, as I find them locally, are a convenient substitute when something needs "just a touch of beaniness" as for a beef stew or the like. They seldom benefit much from pre-soaking, and cook almost as quickly as rice.

There appear to be some "more exotic" ones available, and they may require slightly different preparation, but the common kinds are fine when you don't want to spend a lot of time and want to add a bit of "bean" to something.

Not really a good substitutes for the beans in a chili pot, but good for "lighter" stews or pot roasts, usually added after everything else is almost done.

"Curry powder" has many unidentifiable compositions, and one can make an entire culinary career out of finding the "perfect" one; but there seems to be little real difference in the majority of the "food mart" kinds. The selections available at the "ethnic markets" are scary enough that I usually leave them pretty much alone since I don't do a lot of "specialized" cooking.

Most of my recipes are very simple: "Kill it - Burn it - Eat it." (It's obligatory to tell "guests" "It'll be better the next time" or for variaty "Sometimes it comes out a little different.")

John

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 06:24 PM

If you can't cook 'em, try sprouting 'em.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: pdq
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 06:43 PM

If anyone knows of a good Curry Powder that can be purchased on eBay, or some other place that takes PayPal, perhaps they could share the name?

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 06:56 PM

Don't normally use curry powder, but this stuff has a VG reputation

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: bobad
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 07:07 PM

This one is popular -- I use it myself: Ship Brand Madras Curry Powder

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: gnu
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 07:28 PM

Curry... just the smell... no, just a sniff... makes me wanna hurl. Vile spice indeed.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: pdq
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 08:18 PM

Peas be with you.

Subject: 4 tips for GREAT curry!
From: Crowhugger
Date: 03 Aug 11 - 11:46 PM

To make fabulous curry: I learned from my best friend who is from Pakistan and makes the BEST biryani bar NONE, not to mention the BEST Palak Paneer:
(1) Forget powder. If you want your dish to taste authentic, buy curry paste, which doesn't go stale the way powder does; I've had some for a year or more in the fridge that still tasted amazing; powder goes downhill within a week or two after opening, and it may not have been fresh when it was packaged. Please do not use grocery store spice-rack curry powder. It's for western palates and your food will not taste fabulous. Not even almost fabulous.

(2) Always fry onion**(caramelized is best), FRESH garlic and FRESH ginger (minced or julienned) with the paste.

(3) If you must avoid all fat, roast these ingredients--pain in the neck BTW--and use teflon dish, they contain a ton of natural sugar. If you cook the curry a long time e.g. lamb shoulder or cheap cut of beef (or leeneia's beans :-) ), add a more ginger and paste 5-7 minutes before serving. You'll understand better how much 'top up' to use after you've done it once. I think the jar label gave quantities to use, however I taste each new jar of paste to help me decide how much is enough.

(4) If at all possible go to an Indian grocery and buy something called "curry leaf" found in the produce fridge near the long green beans and fresh coriander. Use it kind of like bay leaf, but use more: For the amount of stewed food that would use 1-3 bay leaves (6 cups) I'd use 3-8 curry leaves for beans, more for chicken, a bit more again for goat or lamb. (That's my interp of what my friend taught me.) BTW you can't pick them out at the end, they disintegrate. This ingredient adds a subtle but unmistakable quality to the whole flavour, somehow binds the other flavours together.

If your curry will be yummy without curry leaf, will be scrumptious with it. To understand the flavour, put 2-3 leaves in a tea cup, put 2-3 Tbsp boiling water on them, let stand until warm, now taste the water. Now nuke it to boil it, and taste it again after 1 minute (allow to cool!). And again after 5 mins (add more water before nuking this long, and allow to cool before tasting). If you've never done this with everyday herbs, try it!

Plan to freeze the rest of the curry leaf (you'll have dozens left!) Pick them off the stems and lay them out on paper or cloth on a cookie sheet. Pop into freezer as is, no cover. Probably they'll freeze in 30 minutes. At the same time, label and freeze the jar you'll store them in. Yes, jar, no not plastic, it's not truly airtight. Once leaves are frozen, gently but quickly & lightly pour them into the ice-cold jar; put on the lid and put right back into the freezer. You can't label the jar after it's been in the freezer, the condensation when you bring it out keep adhesives from sticking.

**Many dishes my friend makes use caramelized onions--sliced thinly and fried slowly for an hour or so in clarified butter or oil--I use olive oil and it's just fine--until evenly deep-browned, never a speck of burn though, so pick out black bits if mistakes happen. Yes it's worth the effort. I do a big batch and freeze in portions including some laid out on yogurt lids=ready to go on burgers. A lot of raw onion cooks down into not much volume when done, but the flavour is concentrated.

Whew, sorry to be so long winded. I didn't realize I was going to write a short book!

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: SINSULL
Date: 04 Aug 11 - 08:44 AM

Masala Dosa - Crepe filled with potatoes and dried peas in a spicy mix. YUM!

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 04 Aug 11 - 10:26 AM

"If you can't cook 'em, try sprouting 'em."

I don't think ball bearings can sprout.

For a long time I used a wonderful curry powder from G.B. Ratto's of Oakland, California. It has a wonderful, flowery taste and smell, not like supermarket curry powder. However, they don't do mail-order anymore. I don't even know if they mix their own any more. A thousand miles is rather far to go to check it out.

However,if anybody here lives in the Bay area, I think it would be worth checking out. If you call more than once they may actually answer the phone.

If I didn't have three packages of curry powder already, I'd buy the curry paste, Crowhugger, so don't think I'm ignoring you.   Thanks for all the tips.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: Crowhugger
Date: 04 Aug 11 - 02:59 PM

I've been pondering those beans, leeneia. I didn't see an answer to someone's question upthread about whether you added salt at the start of cooking--maybe I missed your answer. Might salt have been hidden in another ingredient? It prevents légumes (pulses) getting soft. Salt or baking soda are useful when you want your navy beans to hold their shape in a dish like baked beans--it only takes 30 minutes to cook those beans until soft enough to eat, so the other 3-10 hours of baking will turn them to mush if you don't add salt "too early" in the cooking. But as a good guideline, leave out all forms of salt (including salt-containing ingredients like canned tomatoes, worcestershire, tamari, commercial stock/broth etc.) until after the peas/beans are as tender as you want them.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 04 Aug 11 - 04:11 PM

Don't add salt at the beginning of cooking any pulses, or rice. Wait til;l 5 minutes before they are ready. Salt hinders the cooking, and if you want the flavour, then putting it in at the beginning just decreases that flavour.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: Crowhugger
Date: 04 Aug 11 - 05:08 PM

I've never experienced that with rice. I can turn early-salted rice to a sticky mass of mush no problem. I can get it fluffy too, nowadays! Point is, before I learned how to do it nicely, it still could cookd to mush even with salt in the water from the get go.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 04 Aug 11 - 05:25 PM

Put teaspoonful of oil or butter into a pot, put it on a hot stove, and stir till the rice is coated by the oil. Add boiling water to the pan, and make sure the water never stops boiling. This keeps the rice moving, and stops it sticking. When it is cooked, rinse it in a sieve with boiling water, till the water runs clear coming out. Knock the water out of the rice by banging the handle of the sieve on the side of the sink, or the pot.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: Crowhugger
Date: 04 Aug 11 - 11:13 PM

Washing the rice in very cold water before cooking helps a lot.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 05 Aug 11 - 08:23 PM

Try it like this.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: michaelr
Date: 05 Aug 11 - 08:46 PM

Another fascinating British word: pulses? Never heard it before.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 05 Aug 11 - 08:53 PM

Don't think pulse is just a British word, Michael.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 06 Aug 11 - 10:45 AM

Hi, John. Salt was not the problem. I never put any salt in anything except bread, because the yeast organisms need it. The DH watches his blood pressure, and he eats his food unsalted. I sprinkle on a tiny bit at the table.

(He gets the salt needed for survival by eating non-home-made food for lunch and snacks.)

Apparently my big mistake was in using too low a heat. I need to give the peas a good boiling, not just simmer them.
===========
Will curry powder really taste good with an earthy-tasting food like these peas? I've only used c.p. with chicken.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: bobad
Date: 06 Aug 11 - 11:07 AM

Are you sure they are peas and not mung beans?

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,livelylass
Date: 06 Aug 11 - 11:23 AM

Yes, *lots* of traditional bean/pea curries from India. Of course the spicing tends to be more sophisticated than basic "curry powder" but that's what you have got so you might as well use it.
Like I said, cook up your beans, and drain.
Add them to a curried veggie sauce base then simmer together for maybe another fifteen minutes. Flavours will improve if left overnight.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,livelylass
Date: 06 Aug 11 - 11:39 AM

Or you could just have a look on a recipe site and try any of the recipes that call for canned or cooked dried pulses. This is a search for "chickpeas":

http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes.aspx?WithTerm=chickpeas

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 10 Sep 11 - 12:50 AM

I've found a great use for the dried peas. The pretty bottle that I keep vinegar in had deposits inside, so I put some water, a little soap, and a handful of peas in it. After several bouts of vigorous shaking the peas had abraded the deposits clean off.

But now, to return to the notion of using them for food. I'm going to start soaking them for Sunday. (It is now Friday night.) Then I'll boil them for 15 minutes, then simmer for one hour. How does that sound?

I believe I'll saute some onion and stir in the curry powder, then add that combo to the soup once the peas are cooked. Pea soup with curry powder doesn't sound good to me, but enough people have recommended it that I'm willing to give it a try.

I've looked at lots of recipes online, but they call for so many spices I don't have. As I mentioned, I am not interested in spending a lot of money on spices to cook $1 worth of peas.

There is not one spare inch in my kitchen, and I'll be glad to use them up.

I like to make split pea soup and put thyme in it, but I've done that several rather often. Time for a change.

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 10 Sep 11 - 04:02 AM

I do not recommend eating curried beans if you're planning to attend a polite gathering in an enclosed space the next day!

Subject: RE: BS: dried peas from India
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 10 Sep 11 - 09:35 AM

Lord, Shimrod, it's getting very difficult to entertain in present society. There's the allergy of the month, and the stuff we skimmed in the newspaper, and half-lies we heard at Whole Foods (also known as Whole Paycheck.)

I'm gluten intolerant (suddenly)
I'm not eating meat anymore.
I don't like chicken.
I trust this is salted with sea salt. (It's not.)
This isn't congruent with my blood type.

And recently there's a new one. "My body doesn't tolerate chemicals." Umm, our bodies are made of chemicals.

If they'll eat dried green peas on Sunday, I don't care what happens on Monday.