Slow-cooked Beans - griffo4

griffo4, here's all the info' for you, from Simon & Alison Holst's book "100 great ways to use slow cookers & crockpots" (the one with the red on the cover).

SLOW-COOKED BEANS
Time 3-5 hours onHIGH (see below for more details)

Please Note:Red kidney beans do cook well in a slow cooker BUT you must boil them rapidly in a pot of water for about 15 minutes before slow-cooking them, to destroy harmful substances in the beans.

Preheat your slow cooker to HIGH.
For a yield of about 5 cups of cooked beans, put 2 cups of dried beans (or pre-boiled red kidney beans) in the slow cooker with 6 cups of hot tap water.
For extra flavour, near the start of the cooking, add some of the following: 1-2 sliced garlic cloves, a dried or fresh chilli, I or 2 bay leaves, fresh herbs, half an onion, etc.).After about 2 hours, when the beans are partly cooked but not yet completely tender, add 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of sugar.)Times vary according to the quality and age of the dried beans, as well as the temperature reached by your slow cooker on HIGH. (Some large slow cookers, with higher wattage, cook faster.)

Black-eyed beans should be cooked in about 3 hours on HIGH.

Haricot beans should be cooked in about 3½ hours on HIGH.

Chickpeas should be cooked in 4-5 hours on HIGH.

Red kidney beans (after pre-boiling) should be tender in about 3½ hours on HIGH.

For maximum flavour and best texture, leave the beans to cool in some of their cooking liquid overnight or for several hours in a cool place (or in the refrigerator in hot weather), before using them in other recipes.You can refrigerate or freeze cooked beans and some liquid in thick plastic bags or lidded plastic potties (from supermarket delis).The bean cooking stock is well flavoured and may be used, too.

Here are some useful chickpea facts:
A 400g can holds about 1½ cups (about 250g) of drained (cooked) chickpeas.
1 cup of dried chickpeas yields about 2½ cups slow-cooked chickpeas.
1 cup of dried chickpeas weighs about 190g.
1 cup of slow-cooked, drained chickpeas weighs about 180g.
2½ cups slow-cooked, drained chickpeas weigh about 460g.

NOTE: Always precook dried beans before cooking them in stews and sauces, etc.Uncooked beans simmered in these mixtures may never soften enough to be edible, however long you cook them.
:-))

Wow 245sam thank you so much l will c&p this and put it away to use when l get the ingredients and will start looking for more recipes with them

I started doing this with Chickpeas when I first got the book its a great way. I do a whole 500g packet of peas and then when ready and still simmering I pack them in hot jars and store in the fridge the juice sets into a sof jelly and they keep for weeks its a handy addition to soups stews casseroles salads etc etc a great extender for meat for the budget concious but also good for fibre and texture.

Only issue is my wife isn't a fan so I don't do it as often these days.