Ayocote negro beans, millet, and tahini sauce

Our love affair with beans has been going on for a long time. It started slowly with a desire to eat healthy, and especially to find food that does not cause blood sugar spikes. Beans are at the top of the list. It was OK, though not at the top of our list of gourmet foods.

Then, years ago, I found myself in Chicago and went to eat at Rick Bayless's Frontera Grill. I still find it hard to grok that in the Bay Area I still have not found Mexican food as good as what I had in Chicago. Admittedly, I have not looked too hard. The most memorable part of the meal in Frontera Grill were basic black beans. They were savory, had great texture, one could not have enough. I started to look hard for instructions for how to cook beans properly. Clearly, there was a trick I had no idea about.

The quality of our beans improved dramatically, and we ate them more and more. And just loved the flavor and texture of freshly cooked beans. Yet, were only able to make a few kinds of beans taste good, no matter how hard we tried. Clearly, we have no figured out the art of the bean.

Jasna learned about Rancho Gordo and their fresh beans. Apparently the beans we were buying in the stores were prehistoric, up to 10 years old. Imagine your cell phone was of that age - today that would have been the original iPhone. Freshness of the beans, the sheer variety, and improved cooking instructions elevated our bean to a new level.

There are two main steps I learned: The first one is to boil beans without salt until they are soft. Apparently salt toughens them up. The second one is to boil them vigorously for 15 minutes, and then simmer ever so slowly until the beans are done. No idea why this is needed, but the result is really good.

Today we made a super simple supper: millet, acoyote beans, and tahini sauce. We looked at each other and decided that steak has gotten some stiff competition. The beans were cooked in freshly made dashi with off-the-chart umami level, millet added a nice texture complement, and tahini sauce kicked it all up a notch or three.

Tahini sauce:

• Mix a coup of yogurt, 3-5 finely chopped garlic cloves, a pinch of salt, juice of one lemon, a few TBS extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp of ground cumin, and 2 TBS tahini.
• That was it. What you don't use, refrigerate. It makes a great salad dressing!

Millet:

• Mix 1/2 cup millet and 1 cup of water, leave in a fridge overnight, or for a couple of days if you change your plans :)
• Put millet in a pot along with the soaking water.
• Add 1/2 TBS miso paste.
• Bring to simmer and cook for about 10 minutes, until millet absorbs the water. 
• I like millet grains to retain its shape. If you want it mushier, use more water.

Beans:

• Soak 2/3 cups of beans in filtered water overnight. Use enough water as beans will double in size.
• Soaking is not strictly needed, but will cut down on cooking time, I highly recommend it.
• Tough-skin beans like ayocote negro that we used can be forgotten in a fridge, soaking for a few days. 
• Strain the beans and wash them. This is supposed to reduce the gas action after eating the beans, though some say it doesn't help. I do it. More importantly, when you eat beans regularly, your digestive track adjust and the gas goes away.
• Put beans in a pot and cover them with fresh liquid. You can use water or dashi if you have it - note that no salt was added to dashi. Add a few TBS of extra virgin olive oil, some chopped onion and carrots, and 5 or so peeled whole garlic cloves. You can also discard the soaking liquid - some claim that reduced flatulence. My experience has been that eating beans and fiber reduces gas.
• Cover, bring to a hard boil, and boil hard for 15 minutes.
• Bring to slow simmer, and simmer for about 20 minutes until the beans soften. Check here and there if you are short on liquid - add more water or dashi in that case.
• When the beans are soft, add salt - to taste. If you are using dashi, you'll barely need a pinch.
• Simmer slowly for another 15 minutes to let beans absorbe some salt. You will end up with beans in some bean liquid that will be super tasty.

To serve, plate some millet first. On top of that, spoon beans and the cooking liquid. Top with a dollop of tahini sauce. Ascend in food heaven.