How to cook peas correctly: little tricks that will help you prepare a delicious and tender dish
Peas belong to the ancient legumes, popular in many states for their nutritional value. Pea porridge, soup, mashed potatoes belong to traditional dishes and Slavic cuisine, but not everyone knows how to cook peas correctly. Most often, dried split peas are used for cooking, since fresh peas or a canned product are much more expensive than dried ones. But in order for the pea dish to turn out tasty and cook quickly enough, you need to know some features.
How to cook peas correctly: important points
To speed up the process, the cereals are pre-soaked. This reduces the cooking time several times. Swollen whole peas will be ready in 50-60 minutes, chipped peas in 30 minutes.
To properly cook the peas, take several steps:
- Preparation of dry cereals. Carefully sort out the cereals. It is worth involving children in this process. So you can kill several birds with one stone - save your time, save yourself from boring activities, keep children busy and promote the development of their fine motor skills. Sheer benefit!
- Flushing. In deciding how to cook peas correctly, washing is given an important role. The cereals are washed several times under a high pressure of running water, until it ceases to be cloudy and frothy.
- Soak. Peas are soaked for several hours (preferably overnight). In the morning, the peas become soft, and the cooking process will take no more than 30-40 minutes. But here you should take into account the variety of peas and its type (whole, split, crushed). Whole peas take longer to soften.
- Pre-cooking. When the beans are swollen, drain the water and place the peas in a saucepan. It is better that it has a thick bottom. Pour cold water so that it covers the cereal to a thickness of 3 fingers. Put the pan on the stove at maximum heat, without closing the lid. Stir constantly so that the water does not "run away" and the cereal does not burn, bring to a boil and immediately reduce the heat to a minimum. Foam is constantly removed.
- The ending. They continue to simmer the dish until fully cooked. How much to cook split peas and how many whole peas are determined by tasting the cereals "by the mouth". When the peas reach the desired state, they add some salt and turn off the stove. This completes the cooking process. You can use legumes to create homemade treats.
Cooking nuances
Experienced chefs know how to cook peas correctly to make them delicious.
Here are some tweaks:
- It is better to take not whole, but split peas. The dense outer shell has been removed, which significantly slows down the cooking process.
- Do not soak peas for a long time, especially if they are poorly washed. The product turns sour and begins to ferment.
- Groats are very fond of water, it should be poured 2-3 cm above the peas.
- Be sure to stir the brew. Peas absorb water, moreover, it evaporates, and inexperienced home cooks often burn the groats.
- During cooking, the peas should randomly move up and down. This is an indicator of the correctness of the process.
- In no case should you add cold water to the cooking dish. This will spoil its taste.
- If you have not calculated with the volume of liquid, the peas have already reached readiness, and there is still a lot of water, you should not add fire. So the cereal will only harden. You need to remove the pan from the stove and drain the excess liquid. But you can leave the peas to simmer until the excess liquid has completely evaporated.
- You need to salt the dish after cooking. Salt inhibits the boiling process of peas.
By adhering to these simple rules, you can cook a good dish.
Pea dishes without presoaking
The soaking process of peas reduces the time it takes to prepare dishes from them. However, softening itself takes several hours. Folk craftsmen recommend several ways to quickly boil peas without soaking.
Soda
Many people advise adding some baking soda when cooking pea dishes. This option has different opinions.
Supporters argue that after adding soda, peas not only boil down many times faster, but lose their ability to cause increased gas formation.
Opponents of this method say that when soda is added, a huge amount of foam is formed, which literally comes out of the pan. Also, some people note that after adding soda, the dish acquires an unpleasant bitter taste.
Butter
To speed up cooking, add butter (a piece of butter or a small stack of vegetable). They form a film on the surface, as a result, the temperature inside the dish will rise and the peas will boil faster.
Double boiler
A double boiler can be used to speed up the cooking process. The washed peas are placed in a bowl and poured with water in a ratio of 1 to 2. They select the "stewing" mode, the timer is set for 40 minutes. salt.
Pressure cooker
One of the best ways to quickly boil peas. All that is needed is to rinse the peas, put them in the pressure cooker, pour in plenty of water so that it covers the cereal by 8-10 centimeters. Close the lid and put on high heat. As soon as the pressure cooker begins to make characteristic hissing sounds, reduce the heat to a minimum and cook for 20-25 minutes (split peas), 40-50 (whole peas). Then turn it off and wait for the pressure cooker to release the pressure. It will take another 10-15 minutes. Open the lid, salt.
Pea dishes are very popular among adults and children. Pea soup with smoked ribs, pea porridge with meat gravy and steak, pea puree with cracklings - what could be tastier and more nutritious than these dishes! If you know how to cook peas properly, learn a few tricks for quickly cooking it, then you can please your home with full lunches and dinners at least every week.
Well, actually, you don't need to drain the foam when washing, since this is a sign of a large amount of protein and, accordingly, benefits.