Bean Me Up Scottie

Nowadays, we are always looking for better ways to eat. May it be for health reasons or just to take ourselves out boredom from eating the same thing. Let me shine the light on the mostly snubbed treat that packs a whallop of protien with fraction of the fat. By that, I am pertaining to "Beans". They are economical as well as tasty. Why do we not have them in our meals more often? My theory would be because there is a slight catch that comes along with these yummies. A sort of disclaimer that might say, eat at your own risk to your social life. Let's face it, they can give you bad gas. This can range from silent to musical and unscented to extremely scented. Nice way to determine who your real friends are though.

Why do they cause gas? Well, it's not their fault actually. It would be more on our lack a certain enzyme that would break down the sugar from beans called "oligosaccharides". That is why when these sugars pass down our digestive tract our natural bacterias that happily reside in our intestinal realty have a feast whenever they see these sugars. Of course, after their feast they loosen up their belts, slouch on their couch and have a belching contest. Well, as you are having a bleching contest without your knowledge going on, those released gases are having a time of their life meeting up with whatever sulfur you have passing through your intestinal town. The more blech that are released by these bacterias, imminent pressure builds up. Like any other party, as it gets crowded, you have to get out and have some air. That is when you get to release the pent up pressure going on in your tummy. If those gases got to pair up with some passing sulfur in your intestine, you will surely know about it.

There are some ways that can help in reducing the chances of bean induced music from happening. Soak your beans overnight and change the soaking water twice. Rinse off the beans prior to cooking and use fresh water for cooking. As foam rises up during cooking, skim off the foam from the pot. If you are not used to eating beans, it would be best if you start off with small quantities. There are those little magic pills called "beano" that you take prior to enjoying your beans. These pills would have the necessary enzymes that would be needed to chop down those big sugar molecules to smaller manageble sugar molecules.

A wonderful way to start off your bean adventure would be to try out Hummus for a snack or as an appetizer. This is best with warm pita bread or any toasted bread. I do not have a photo of this at the moment but would certainly upload it as soon as I take one.

Hummus

4 garlic cloves
2 cups canned chickpeas, drained
1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)
6 Tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
2 Tablespoons water
pinch cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
pinch cayenne pepper

olive oil to drizzle
2 Tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

1. Combine the chickpeas, tahini, garlic, cumin, water and lemon juice in a food processor; process until smooth. Season with salt and cayenne.

2. Spoon the hummus onto a serving platter and smooth the surface. Drizzle the olive oil over the hummus and garnish with the chopped parsley. Serve with warm pita bread that has been cut into quarters.

*In case you can not find any tahini after you have checked halal markets and indian or any other asian markets, you can substitute it with natural peanut butter. I know that it would be a different entity altogether, but it will be good as well. I just have to think of a name for it.

Do tell me how you enjoy this recipe and its variant.