How long should dry peas be soaked before cooking?

The pea group is one of the most popular all over the world, because it is cheap compared to other varieties of legumes, and many different dishes can be prepared from it. The secret of success is proper soaking before cooking, after which the peas acquire the desired softness or quickly become pureed. It is no coincidence that it can be found so often in dishes of Russian, Oriental, Mediterranean or South American cuisine.

How to cook peas in a saucepan

Be sure to sort through the cereal: throw out spoiled peas and small stones. After this, soak the seeds in clean cold water for 5-8 hours. Do not wait longer: the peas may turn sour. When the time is up, check if the grains have swollen enough. If not, drain the old water, pour in clean water and wait another hour and a half.

For 300 g of peas you need 2-3 liters of water.

Before cooking, rinse the peas and place them in a pan with thick walls and bottom: in this way nothing will burn. Pour clean water so that it is 1 cm above the grains.

Place the pan over low heat. When foam appears, remove it with a tablespoon or slotted spoon.

You should not completely cover the pan with a lid: leave a crack so that steam can escape. If the water boils away, add boiling water. You cannot pour in cold water, otherwise the taste of the dish will spoil.

Since peas burn quickly, they need to be stirred periodically. You can start as soon as foam stops appearing.

If the peas are boiled and the water has not yet boiled away, you should not increase the heat, otherwise the peas will harden and the dish will lose its taste. If there is any water left, simply drain it or leave it to simmer over low heat with the lid open.

Before turning off the stove or immediately after, salt the peas. If you need puree, mash the seeds with a masher or blender without waiting for the dish to cool down: this way there will be no lumps.

Season the finished porridge with butter or vegetable oil or heavy cream. Decorate with greens.

What water should you soak in?

It is extremely important to use only cold water for soaking. Hot will cause the peas to taste bad. It is impossible to notice this outwardly; the result will manifest itself only after preparing the dish.

Tap water must be filtered, or better yet, boiled and cooled. This simple technique will not only get rid of foreign biological impurities and dissolved chlorine, but will also remove some of the lime. This will have a very positive effect on the taste of the soup. Clean bottled without gas will also work.

There is no need to add sugar or salt. They in no way speed up the process of softening the peas, unlike soda, and may not have the best effect on the taste of the dish. Spices are usually added to pea porridges and soups at the very end of cooking - a minute before turning off the stove.

How to diversify pea porridge

Pea porridge with cream and vegetables

4uniqum.livejournal.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry peas;
• salt - to taste;
• 1 carrot;
• 1 onion;
• 1 bell pepper;
• vegetable oil - for frying;
• 100 ml low-fat cream;
• greenery.

Preparation

Cook the peas as described above. Peel the vegetables. Grate the carrots on a medium grater, finely chop the onion, and cut the pepper into cubes. Place the vegetables in a frying pan, add salt and fry in vegetable oil.

Add cream to the prepared pea porridge and puree using a masher or blender. Place on plates, add vegetables on top and garnish with herbs.

Pea porridge with stew

polzavred.ru

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups peas;
• 300 g stew;
• 1 onion;
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil;
• salt, pepper - to taste.

Preparation

Cook the peas. Place the stew in a bowl, remove excess fat and liquid. Cut the onion into half rings and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. Add the stew to the onion and fry for another 10–15 minutes. Add salt and pepper, stir well, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add peas to the stew, stir and simmer for 3 minutes.

Pea porridge with mushrooms

multivarka.tv

Ingredients

• 2 cups peas;
• salt - to taste;
• 2 onions;
• 400 g mushrooms;
• 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Preparation

Cook the peas. Peel the onion and cut into half rings. Wash and chop the mushrooms. Fry the onion in vegetable oil until golden brown, then add the mushrooms. Fry for 10 minutes, add salt.

Add onions and mushrooms to the cooked peas and stir. Cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with greens.

How long to soak

There is no single standard for how long to soak peas for soup, since the rate of swelling in water directly depends on several factors:

• variety - the Idaho variety is considered the fastest-cooking variety, but stores most often sell yellow (orange) or green grains. The yellow one will swell faster, and the green one will swell a little longer;
• integrity of peas - peas split into halves are soaked for an average of 20-180 minutes, and whole ones will have to be left in water for 6-8 hours;
• air temperature in the room - the warmer it is, the sooner the cereal will soften, but it will have to be monitored all the time;
• soda dissolved in water accelerates the softening process, but has a detrimental effect on the taste and benefits of peas.

The readiness of the cereal for cooking is determined by eye. The peas should become 2 times larger in volume. In this case, the remaining water should not become cloudy or foam. In addition, readiness can be judged by the hardness of the peas. Swollen specimens can be crushed without much effort with your fingers or a spoon.

What is soda for?

The presence of sodium bicarbonate softens not only hard water, but also what is in it. Legumes soaked in a weak soda solution boil faster. Due to this, cooking takes much less time.

Well-cooked peas, beans, etc. are easier for the human digestive system to digest. Accordingly, the risk of bloating and bowel dysfunction is reduced.

The main reason why legume dishes cause flatulence in many is the high content of indigestible fiber and complex oligosaccharides. The fact is that when sugar molecules are broken down in the stomach, gas is released.

When soaking, some of the sugars go into the water, which is drained before cooking. After this, the peas, beans or lentils are thoroughly washed and, filled with clean water, put on fire.

Attention! The method is suitable for dried legumes and fresh, just harvested ones. The canned product does not require additional soaking, since it has already gone through the pre-processing stage.

Product preparation: do I need to soak peas before cooking?

Preparing peas before cooking includes washing and soaking. Peas (both whole and split) must be rinsed several times with clean water to remove dirt and excess starch. As for soaking, the views of housewives and cooks differ. Some people think that soaking peas is a must, while others think that it’s unnecessary fuss.

Soaking peas will not only help reduce cooking time, but will also eliminate the uncomfortable “bean effect” - bloating.

Whole peas (depending on the quality and manufacturer) can take up to two hours to cook, so soaking is a good idea here. Do you need to soak split peas? Split peas take about 45 minutes to cook, so you can skip soaking.

If there is no time to soak whole peas, you can boil the peas in three waters: pour the washed peas with cold water and let it boil, drain the water, add cold water again and bring to a boil (repeat again).

For soup with smoked meats and vegetarian soup, it is better to pre-soak the peas, this will reduce the cooking time. Smoked meats are added at the end of cooking, so here the time frame is set by peas, as in a soup without meat ingredients.

Vegetarian pea soup

You can cook delicious pea soup without meat. Peas themselves have rich flavor properties, which makes this product popular during fasting, as well as among vegetarians.

For vegetarian soup you will need:

• peas - 1.5 cups;
• potatoes – 3-4 pcs.;
• two carrots;
• onion – half;
• garlic – 1-2 cloves;
• bell pepper – 1 pc.;
• vegetable oil;
• greenery;
• spices to taste (ground black pepper, paprika, salt).

Cooking steps

1. Place the prepared peas in a saucepan, cover with cold water and cook for 40 minutes.
2. Peel the potatoes, cut into strips and add to the saucepan.
3. Prepare vegetables for roasting. Finely chop the onion and bell pepper, grate the garlic and carrots.
4. Fry the onion a little in a frying pan, then add the carrots and garlic. Let the vegetable mixture simmer a little, then add the bell pepper.
5. Season the finished roast with spices.
6. 5-9 minutes before the soup is ready, add the roast and salt.
7. Serve the soup with herbs.

Vegetarian pea soup is also delicious as a cream soup: just puree the soup ingredients using a blender. This way you can make your diet more varied from a standard set of products.

Pea soup turns out very tasty in a slow cooker. The cooking technology in a multicooker differs from cooking on the stove in a more gentle mode. In a slow cooker, vegetables are simmered, as a result they reveal their flavor more fully, and the broth remains clear.

To reduce labor costs, you can prepare the soup without frying by adding chopped vegetables directly to the water. In this version, the soup is healthier.

A small but effective secret

Each of us knows that peas can cause flatulence. This is a natural phenomenon that can cause inconvenience to anyone. Therefore, if you love pea soup, but prefer not to eat it for this very reason, then there is a way out of this situation.

In order to avoid flatulence, when soaking peas, simply add a few teaspoons of soda. You can calculate the amount of soda yourself based on standard data. If you have 100 grams of peas and 1.5 liters of water, then you should add only 2 level teaspoons of soda.

It is very important to rinse the peas very well at the end of soaking. You need to wash off the remaining soda very thoroughly. Of course, it is advisable to rinse each pea in running cold water, if you have the patience for this.

But, as they say, it's for your own good. Agree, pea soup or porridge with a soda flavor will not cause delight, nor will it satisfy the palate.

Pea soup with smoked meats

To prepare a medium saucepan of soup you will need:

• peas (preferably split) – 200 g;
• smoked meats – 100-200 g;
• 3-4 medium-sized potatoes;
• one carrot;
• onion – 0.5 onions (or whole);
• vegetable oil (for frying);
• greens (dill, parsley);
• salt;
• you can add bay leaf.

Suitable smoked products include chicken wings, smoked pork ribs, sausage, salami, etc. The choice depends only on personal taste preferences.

Cooking steps

1. Rinse the peas and pour boiling water over them briefly.
2. Fill a saucepan with water and place it on the stove.
3. When the water boils, add clean peas.
4. Peel the potatoes and cut into cubes.
5. When the peas have boiled for 25-30 minutes, add the potatoes to them.
6. Fry onions and carrots.
7. Add smoked meats and fried vegetables about 5-9 minutes before readiness, add salt to taste.
8. Season the finished soup with finely chopped fresh herbs.

The aroma and taste of pea soup with smoked meats will not leave anyone indifferent. The dish does not require any additional dressing; the taste is self-sufficient.

Soaking rules

Add baking soda to the water, stir well to dissolve the powder. Pour the resulting liquid over the prepared beans 2 cm above their level. Before cooking, rinse the product thoroughly to remove any unpleasant soapy taste.

How to properly soak liver in soda.

Cooking secrets

In order for the peas to open better, soften, and not cause gas formation, they need to be soaked before cooking. Regardless of whether it is whole or chopped.

Whole peas will need to be soaked longer, and split peas a little less. The cooking time of the dish will depend on the soaking. The longer it is soaked, the less time it will take to cook.

When preparing, you can do without “water procedures”, but in this case it will take much longer to cook.

When cooking, it is important to remember the ratio of peas to water and its increase in volume during cooking. The traditional ratio of peas to water is 1:3.

You can do without soaking in two cases: if you use a multicooker or pressure cooker.

In a pressure cooker , the cooking time for soup is much shorter, since the meat and all other ingredients cook much faster. Preparing the soup will take very little time. The taste of this dish is reminiscent of those that our grandmothers cooked in the oven. For this soup you will need meat, potatoes, peas, carrots, spices, and herbs.

Meat and potatoes are placed in the pressure cooker, which can be cut, or you can put them whole and, at the end of cooking, mash them into a puree and return them to the soup. Washed peas, chopped or shredded carrots. If desired, you can add onions and spices.

Depending on the meat, the cooking time for this soup ranges from 30 minutes to 1 hour. If you take chicken, the dish cooks very quickly, beef takes a little longer. While the pressure cooker cools down (about 10-15 minutes), the soup will cook. If the volume of the pressure cooker is 3 or 4 liters, then dry peas can be taken in the amount of 1 cup - the soup will be of medium thickness. If 1.5 cups, the soup will be thick.

It is better to salt the soup after cooking. You can fry it and add it after opening the lid of the pressure cooker.

In a slow cooker, the process of making soup is approximately the same. If you don’t soak the peas and take beef, then cooking will take 2-2.5 hours in the “stew” mode.

Such cooking methods are good because they produce tasty and healthy dishes with minimal time. When cooked, peas do not cause gas formation and you can fully enjoy the taste of this wonderful legume.

Disadvantages of the method

If the rules for soaking legumes with baking soda are not followed, the finished dish may acquire an unpleasant soapy aftertaste. That's why:

• it is necessary to strictly observe the proportions when preparing the soda solution;
• Do not leave the product in water longer than prescribed.

A long stay in water causes beneficial substances (B vitamins) to be washed out of peas and beans, and fermentation starts in hot weather.

Advice. To avoid the unpleasant taste of soda, after soaking, the beans should be thoroughly rinsed under running water several times.