Sweet and Sour Beans & Cooking Dry Beans

Have your kids ever asked for beans and rice for dinner? Mine have. This tasty sweet and sour bean recipe is sure to be a crowd pleaser. First we will look at cooking dry beans. Then the sweet and sour beans recipe can be modified for either canned beans or dry beans. What a deal!

This sweet and sour bean recipe is quite satisfying and serves as a main dish at our house over rice or potatoes. It can be modified to suit a vegetarian diet by leaving out the bacon. I have cooked it this way once, but seriously, people, add the bacon!

Cooking Dry Beans for the Sweet and Sour Recipe

I am using dry beans grown from my own garden. Check them out in this article.

Canned beans may not seem very costly, and they sure are convenient, but when I saw how much dry beans expanded when soaked and cooked, I realized the difference.

Soak seven cups of dry beans overnight. Ok, the reason I don’t make this recipe more often is because often I don’t have the forethought for this process. So, although overnight is better, I will admit, I have started them in the morning, soaking them for six hours, starting with hot water. Drain the soaked beans.

In a large pot, I used my six quart dutch oven, cover the bean with at least two inches of water, because they are going to expand even more! Bring the beans to a boil, and cook at a continuous, steady boil for at least ten minutes. This boil is important to break down lectins, which are certain proteins attached to carbohydrates, which can cause severe indigestion.

This is why slow cookers are not recommended for cooking beans – many of them do not reach temperatures high enough for a steady boil. If the pot stops boiling during this time, restart the ten minute timer.

The entire cooking time for beans varies, depending on how large the beans are. If you are buying dry beans, I recommend cooking on the lower side of the recommended time, which is usually between 45-90 minutes. Overcooking results in exploded mushy beans. Other ways to prevent mushiness are to cook the beans uncovered, and don’t over-stir the pot.

Chickpeas, which are not true beans, only require about 20 minutes of cooking. Add them to the pot later.  Check out the difference between beans and chickpeas in this article. Keep your eye on the prize, and test the beans as the cooking time draws to a close. Add salt to the pot during the last ten minutes of cooking.

Some cooks recommend adding salt, spices, and herbs to the soaking water for maximum absorption of flavour. I will have to try this sometime.

A note on black beans: If you cook black beans with the rest of your beans, especially white coloured beans, the whole pot will turn into a grey goop. If looks matter, I suggest cooking them separately. I sometimes cook a few extra and freeze them in a freezer bag for next time.

Now that the beans are cooked, they may be drained again, or they don’t have to be. If you don’t eat beans very often, you may want to drain them so the bean song isn’t sung, if you know what I mean.

Sweet and Sour Beans Recipe

Now we are almost done, and we haven’t even started the main recipe. It is actually one of those blessedly quick recipes for a weeknight dinner.

At this point, you will want to start your rice, potatoes, or cornbread.

First, grab your favourite frying pan. Nothing beats a well-seasoned cast iron pan, though when I need something larger, I grab the electric skillet. Fry eight slices of bacon, take them out of the pan and chop or crumble them.

While frying, cut up two onions in rings, or smaller pieces. Add them to the bacon grease to cook with the brown sugar, vinegar, garlic, dried mustard and salt. Cook covered for twenty minutes.

You can experiment with other sweeteners, such as maple syrup or honey. Check out wildflower honey in this article. You can also try different vinegars – classic white vinegar, apple cidar vinegar for a milder flavour, or balsamic for more depth. Or try infused vinegar.

If you are using canned beans, drain and rinse them. You can try different kinds of beans as well. My kids used to not like kidney beans – too big I think, so I would use another can of mixed beans instead.

Add the bacon and onion sauce to the beans in the Dutch oven and bring to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes, but be careful, not too long or the whole thing dries out. If your dry beans expanded too much and there’s not enough sauce, add more sugar and vinegar.

This initial recipe is fairly large – great for our family of six for a couple of meals. When the kids were smaller, I would put some of the hot beans in canning jars and let them seal on the counter (called open kettle canning) and then keep the jars in the fridge for a few weeks. The beans can also be frozen in meal sized portions, or pressure canned.

Serve with rice, potatoes or cornbread and a salad or cooked green vegetables (be cheeky and serve green beans!).  Enjoy!