Bring on the Beans

ISLAND EPICURE
By Marj Watkins

Bring on the beans!

You can do a lot with beans. Some people would rather not. "Too gas-producing," they say. You can diminish or even avoid that side effect in two ways. Avoid canned beans. They are guaranteed to produce flatulence. And cook your own, slowly, with digestive herbs  or seeds such as cumin, caraway, and/or dill seeds.

To cook beans that cause no gas:

1. Get dry beans. Great Northern or canola beans work well. So do lentils. Sprout them like this.
    Soak cup of  dry beans 18 to 24 hours. Drain. Rinse.
    Repeat several times, until they stick out their little tap roots.

2. Put the sprouted beans into a kettle. Cover with water plus an inch or so.
    Bring to a simmer.
    Add a bay leaf and  a rounded teaspoon of cumin powder.
   Cover.  Cook until tender enough to stick a pin in.
    Add 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir gently.
    Cook until you can easily mash a bean with the back of a fork's tines.

3. Make bean curry, bean soup,chili beans, or bean salad.

WHITE BEAN SALAD
       2 to 3 Servings

1 1/2 cups cooked Great Northern Beans
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons lemon juice, fresh squeezed, or white wine vinegar. or rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons slivered fresh mint leaves
1/2 Tablespoon fresh dill leaves
      or 1/2 teaspoon dried dill
2 to 4 red or green Lettuce leaves, washed and patted dry between tea towels
      or a similar amount of raw spinach leaves
3 green onions, tops included
Tomato wedges
2 quartered boiled eggs, optional

Put the beans in a  a jar. Add the oil, lemon juice, mint and dill.Stir, Chill several hours, stirring occasionally.
Just before serving, wash, dry, and slice the green onions. Mix half of  them with the beans. 

Wash the lettuce leaves. Blot them between tea towels or paper towels. Line a plate with the lettuce or spinach. Mound the marinated beans. Garnish with the rest of the slivered green onions. Arrange the tomato wedges around the edges. Tuck in egg quarters, if using.