Updated 01/27/18
All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume. — Noam Chomsky
I think the quote above fits well with a post about my second-hand pressure cooker because…
- Buying used items reduces consumption.
- Cooking, like other small acts of rebellion (mending, sewing, gardening, making) as my friend Meg calls them, can transform us from passive consumers to active, self-reliant conservers.
I probably shouldn’t love a gadget as much as I love my new-to-me pressure cooker. My boyfriend and I found it on a recent trip to one of our favorite stores—Savers, a thrift shop. It was part of my mother’s day present. The pressure cooker—stainless steel, not aluminum like all the others I had come across in my search for one—cost $15. The All-Clad tea kettle, which Chandra also snagged for me that day, cost $10. (They go for $100 new).
Safety
I had once worried that I would blow up my kitchen or myself if I used a pressure cooker. Now that I know how to cook with one, I will sit at my kitchen table while my pressure cooker makes my food, rather than hide out upstairs far from the action. However I do still worry a little that my pressure cooker will land me on an FBI watch list…
To avoid accidents, use a pressure cooker that has a couple of simple safety mechanisms. If the pressure builds up too high in mine, a little black stopper will fly out of the lid, revealing a hole for pressure to escape through.
After the food starts cooking and pressure builds, a little silver widget in the handle pops up, locking the lid in place and making it impossible for me to slide the lid open. This little gizmo drops back down once the pressure has subsided. At that point, I can safely open my cooker without burning myself.
If you buy canned beans, you may want to consider buying them dry and cooking them in a pressure cooker. They taste fantastic. Taste aside though, cans are lined with plastic that often contains BPA, which according to the Environmental Working Group, “is a synthetic estrogen that scientists have linked to breast cancer, reproductive damage, developmental problems, heart disease and other illnesses.” Some cans emblazoned with the claim “BPA-Free” across them contain BPS instead, which is no better.
So far, I have cooked piles of chickpeas in my pressure cooker and also beets. The beets cooked in less than 15 minutes! Do you know how long beets usually take to cook! Life-changing. I also cook whole pumpkins in my pressure cooker. In eight minutes!
How to cook chickpeas in a pressure cooker
When I post pics of beans on social media and explain they cook in a couple of minutes once the regulator starts rocking, someone will tell me that their pressure cooker will take 20 minutes. So, models and cooking times vary. If I soak my chickpeas in water for six hours or so, they will cook almost as soon as they reach pressure.
1. Soak chickpeas in water for six to eight hours. Add a strip of kombu seaweed to aid with digestibility and reduce gas. Drain and rinse.
2. Place chickpeas in the pressure cooker pot. Fill only halfway. If you soaked more beans than you can fit, cook the beans in batches.
3. Fill the pressure cooker with water. I pour in water until it reaches the top gauge line inside the pot. I like to heat up water first in my new-to-me All-Clad kettle to speed up the cooking process.
4. Slide the lid on and turn the burner to high.
5. Soon, the little black stopper in the lid will pop up (not fly out) and the safety mechanism in the handle will kick in. The heavy round thing that rests on the valve in the middle of the lid is the regulator. That will start to gently rock once the pressure inside has built sufficiently. Turn off the heat after a couple of minutes. NOTE: Your pressure cooker may cook more slowly.
6. Remove from heat after the timer goes off. After the little safety widget drops back down, remove the lid. If some chickpeas remain hard, add more water and cook them for a couple of minutes more or until done.
That’s it! I used to cook chickpeas in my slow cooker, which tasted better than canned but they didn’t taste nearly as good as these! These have a nutty flavor and a creamy texture. So so good. I am shoveling them in right now as I type. Only in a post-apocalyptic world would I ever shovel canned chickpeas into my mouth. I’ll never cook beans any other way.
I’ve made lots of hummus and will make chana masala once tomatoes appear once again at the farmer’s market. Roasted chickpeas are a delicious snack.
Insanity laughs under pressure we’re cracking
Can’t we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can’t we give love that one more chance?
Why can’t we give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love?…‘Cause love’s such an old-fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure — Freddie Mercury, Queen
Half a teaspoon of baking soda in the soak water softens the skins and reduces the cook time further. Soaked beans need much less cooking water so pressure is achieved quicker. If you cook the chickpeas for 15 mins under pressure, you can then switch off the heat and let them finish with the retained heat and pressure – its free! Love your site, thanks for all the great info.
I’m going to try this, Katy. I have added baking soda in my slow cooker when cooking chickpeas and that worked well, but I wasn’t sure how it would work in the pressure cooker. Thanks for letting me know 🙂 ~ Anne Marie
You can hardly find an Indian household which does not have a pressure cooker. Moreover, even if they do move/live abroad they make sure to carry one with them. I moved to Germany last year from India and it was a natural to-do thing for me before I left India to buy one and pack in the suitcase. I feel a bit surprised actually that such an important kitchen gadget is so foreign to other parts of the world. Probably it has to do something with the fact that Indians consume a lot of pulses and hence their need for something that reduces the cooking time significantly. The concept of canned foods doesn’t really exist for us! You will almost find all sorts of dried legumes at all times in our kitchens. 🙂 Soaking chickpeas, dried peas etc is kinda a daily routine.
We are so accustomed to using a pressure cooker at home that to make Indian cuisine we need it almost on daily basis. So much so that, many of us have discovered few tricks to do some unconventional cooking with it (example: I boil eggs in my pressure cooker — it only takes one ‘whistle’). For hardy varieties of rice (like brown rice), a pressure cooker makes the life so much easier.
Most of our curries are gravy based including the meats based ones. So as soon as the initial part of frying and marination etc. are done, we swiftly switch to pressure cooker to do the rest of the cooking. Also, typically all the pressure cookers we buy are of aluminium and I’ve never seen anyone having a concern about any occurrence of pitting. I’m not really sure what else can be a problem.
Wow, thanks for all these tips! I think canned food is too much of a concept here 🙁 I will have to try rice next. I have some wild rice that takes forever. Curry in the pressure cooker sounds delicious too. An Indian friend kept telling me to get one. I’m glad I finally did 🙂
As usual, awesome post! 🙂
Thanks so much 🙂
BPA lined cans, while not ideal, only affect acidic foods. So it does not leach into canned beans, which are not acidic enough to disturb the BPA. Tomatoes however, are an entirely different story.
One can use a pressure canner to can dried beans. I’ve long meant to do it, but after reading this, I think I’ll bump it to the top of my list and let you know how it goes.
Well still, I don’t like the idea of BPA in contact with my food. And canned food doesn’t taste so great anyway. I will look up canning dried beans. That would be life changing! Yes, please let me know how it goes 🙂
This is awesome! I am glad you are using a pressure cooker now. Once you start cooking with it, you can’t go back! I usually add a tsp. of salt to the garbanzo beans when I cook them, and I love that they are soft but remain whole so I can use them in salads. Pressure cookers are also great for cooking squash – I throw squash and all other veggies in my fridge that are not as fresh-looking (and a lot of cilantro!), and then I turn them into soup.
I am curious to learn what else you will use your pressure cooker for. I know they are used in other countries very often to cook a lot of things.
I will try adding salt Lina. Thanks for the tip. I am really looking forward to cooking squash in this. I’ve tried beets and was amazed at how quickly they cooked. I’ll always make them in the pressure cooker. This fall, I’ll cook pumpkin in it too for pie. I had been roasting pumpkin for pie filling but it does take a while. I’ll have to write a future post on what I’ve been cooking in this. I’m so glad I finally got one 🙂
Always, always, always soak your beans to break down the phytic acid and enhance digestibility.
“soak dry beans . . . Add 1 tablespoon of . . . [ raw apple or coconut vinegar ] (navy beans, black beans, or fava beans, or lentils) or 2 tablespoons of . . . [ raw apple or coconut vinegar ] per cup of chickpeas (garbanzo beans).
There are other steps before draining and cooking with fresh liquid to prepare them for cooking.
Adapted from Wardeh’s Course instructions.
Fact Sheet: How to Soak and Cook Dry Beans
GNOWFGLINS Fundamentals eCourse
CVS
I totally agree about the soaking! I always had soaked them but in my zeal to try my new pressure cooker out I didn’t do it. And I’m pretty OCD about soaking grains… Thanks for this excerpt.
That is the best homage to Freddie Mercury ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Annie. My boyfriend’s idea 😀
I like your friend’s comment about “small acts of rebellion”. It reminds me of a picture I once saw of a white t-shirt hanging off a laundry line; the shirt read “Radical, civilly-disobedient, solar-powered laundry drying apparatus”. Made me chuckle 🙂
I have a pressure canner (no cooker) and I love canning beans. No soaking so I don’t have to pre-plan. One cup per quart or 1/2 cup per pint (which is close to the same size as a can from the store), fill with water. I don’t remember the exact instructions at the moment but I think you fill to 1″ to the top of the jar and pressure can for something like 90 minutes for quarts. Anyway, I can get a six month supply in that time and have beans ready whenever I need them. I just started doing meat that way as well. While the canning part can take up to 2 hours, I can get about 14 pints in the canner. 14 pints equals 14 meals. We can heat the meat but often we use it for salads or sandwich fillings.
Hi Sara, I hear regularly from people who have pressure canners and they all love them. I would love to try one out. They sound so convenient. Do you recommend a certain brand/size? I don’t know much about them. Thanks ~ Anne Marie
Hi . I too have pressure cooker fear. I got a $25 new to me cuisinart pressure cooker. Will that work just as well for your recipes? Great website!!! Love your work. Also, have you done a series on kids snacks and or lunches (esp warm lunches in containers that don’t leak)
Hi Lee, I used to share your fear. Your pressure cooker should work for my recipes but the cooking times will likely vary. Mine was also secondhand but I was able to find the manual for it online and that included a bunch of cooking times. You might be able to find your model’s manual if you think that would be helpful. I haven’t done kids snacks or lunches. That’s a great idea. I’ll add it to my to-blog list. Thanks for the idea and enjoy your new-to-you pressure cooker. ~ Anne Marie
Dear Anne-Marie, I tried chickpeas and it’s litterally 2 minutes, (3 is too much). It’s so great ! Does it take the same time to cook beans, like red ones or others? in all the old pressure cooker book they say like 20 minutes, and I don’t want some puree and I don’t see why it would be so much longer than chickpeas? Thanks a lot for your advice and your great blog !
Hi Pandore,
Isn’t it amazing! Life changing! I find black beans take a little bit longer than chickpeas. I’ve also cooked white beans and kidney beans. I cook them for about the same amount of time as the chickpeas. But you have to play around with cooking times. If you cut the cooking earlier and the beans are still a little hard, you can always put the pressure cooker back to work. But if you go too long, you’ll have to make hummus 😉
~ Anne Marie
Thank you so much! So sweet of you to answer so quickly!
I soak my chickpeas and then let them sprout just barely before cooking. Unlocks more nutrients.
Hi Fargus,
That happened to mine the last time I cooked them. My daughter and I were amazed! After less than a day, they had begun to sprout. Thanks for the info on the health benefits.
~ Anne Marie
you just gave me inspo to use my PowerPressureCookerxl for more than beef stew. Beets, chick peas, gotta do it now. I also want to get an old fashioned stove top pressure canner and give it a try. Almost blew myself up one time because I pulled the pressure regulator off before it was done. Terrifying experience.
Love my Instant Pot for beans, brown rice, greens, and beets.
Try a BIG bag of beans from Palouse Brands— I get their buttery chick peas in bulk, and recently got a 25 lb bag of black beans and a smaller 5 lb bag of black beluga lentils from their associated grower Clear Creek. Don’t bother with those measly 1 lb plastic wrapped bags of beans of unknown origin!