How to incorporate quick soaked beans into a simple vegan chilli recipe

beanssoaking

I make a big pot of vegan chilli roughly as follows:

  1. Saute onion and garlic.
  2. Brown soya mince.
  3. Add 1 tin corn, 1 tin tomatoes, 1 tin chickpeas, 2 tins beans, various spices, cocoa powder, and tomato paste.
  4. Simmer for a while.

I'm sorry if all the tins made you cringe. I'm not a cook and I like how convenient the recipe is. Nevertheless, I have dry beans now so I can do better! I want to use the quick soak method from here to cook the beans:

Place 1 lb. dried pinto beans in a large, heavy pot. Cover with water about 2” above top of beans. Cover pot, bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Let rest 1 hour. Stir in 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt and bring to a boil over medium heat. Uncover, reduce heat, and simmer until beans are tender and creamy, checking after 1 hour and adding more water as necessary to keep beans submerged, 1–1 1/2 hours total.

However I have no idea how this fits into the grander scheme of the chilli recipe. I see three options:

  1. Once I've gone through the above soaking, consider the beans equivalent to tinned beans and just continue as usual.
  2. Reduce the amount of time soaking and heating to compensate for the time spent simmering with other ingredients.
  3. Cook the non-bean ingredients on their own and only mix the two parts after both are done without further cooking.

Should I add the spices to the beans as they soak?

What should I do with the soak water?

I bought the dry beans from my local supermarket and they're not the typical varieties I see in recipes (I have no idea where to find dry black or pinto beans where I live). I have:

  1. White kidney beans
  2. Half white sugar beans
  3. Red speckled beans
  4. Small white beans

Which of these beans can I use in the recipe, and what modifications to the recipe should I make?

Thanks for reading all the way through! I'm sorry if there are too many questions at once, they all seem tightly related to me.

Best Answer

I would soak the beans for several hours, or overnight; discard the soaking water. Tinned beans have been cooked, so place the soaked beans in your usual cooking vessel and add fresh water to about an inch over the beans. You could add in your tomato paste, spices, and cocoa powder.

While it simmers for about 20 minutes or so, I would separately saute your onion, garlic, and mince before adding that mixture to the pot, along with all your other veg. Simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes. You can always test a few beans, to make sure that they're becoming tender.

You might try the white kidney beans first; they're very commonly-found in many chili recipes, but any of your bean varieties would work. Some may need shorter soaking and cooking times; the package directions should guide you in this.

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