Salad with various kinds of beans

SALAD WITH VARIOUS KINDS OF BEANS

Ingredients

200 g. of black butter beans (black large kidney beans)

180 g. of white medium kidney beans

150 g. of purple beans

200 g. husked wheat

2 red peppers sweet pepper  

1 large green pepper

4 medium dry onions

10 cloves garlic

2 TBs vinegar

80 g. of olive oil

Instructions
 

Generally all kinds of beans generate gases, which are annoying.

To avoid the gases from beans you should put them in a pot with plenty of water and to boil them for some time.

Then remove them from the heat and strain them.

Wash the beans with clean water.

Put them in the pot again and pour water over them until it covers them.

Place the pot again over high heat. 

Repeat this step 2 more times.

So you have to boil, to strain and to wash the beans three times.

Then put the beans again in the pot and for the fourth time pour water over them until it reaches 3 cm above them.

Put the pot over high heat and boil them.

Boil each type of bean separately.

Boil them until they are tender but not to chelate.

Boil in a small saucepan the wheat separately.

Boil it until it becomes soft and tender.

Put in another pot the oil and place it over medium heat.

Cut the onions into thin slices and pour them into the pot.

Mince the garlic and pour it into the pot.

Mix the onion and the garlic and let them to cook for a few min.

Wash the red peppers and the green pepper and cut them into small pieces.

Pour those pieces into the pot and stir.

Wait until all veggies inside the pot become soft and tender..

Add beans and stir.

Add the wheat and mix again.

Pour into the pot the vinegar and the salt.

Try the taste and if it is necessary add a little more salt or vinegar.

Let the pot on the heat for five more minutes. 

All this time you should stir to prevent the sticking of the beans and the wheat.

Remove the pot from the heat and leave it to cool.

Serve the salad when it is almost cold.

Chickpeas with white sauce, or with rice

CHICKPEAS WITH WHITE SAUCE, OR WITH RICE

Ingredients

400 g. dried chickpeas

3 large dry onions

120 ml of olive oil

1 bay leaf

40 g. all purpose-flour

The juice of 1 lemon

Salt

Half a square cm of red hot chili pepper

Instructions

Overnight put the chickpeas in a pot and cover them with plenty of lukewarm water.

The next morning strain the water.

Put the chickpeas in a bowl. Put in the chickpeas a handful of coarse salt

Rub with both hands the chickpeas to peel.

Rinse them with plenty of lukewarm water and strain.

Repeat the rubbing and the washing two times. 

Put the chickpeas in a pot and put water until it goes two cm above the chickpeas.

Place the pot over high heat and wait to boil.

As soon as it starts boiling decrease the heat to medium.

Add a pinch of salt, little hot pepper, the bay leaf and the onions chopped.  

Let them to simmer until they chelate.

After they become soft you can decide if you want to make all of them with white sauce, or if you want to put in the pot rice, or if you want to divide them into two parts.

You can make half of them with the white sauce and the other half with rice.

Chickpeas with a white sauce

Leave half of the chickpeas and half of their broth in the pot.

The other half put it in another saucepan.

To make the white sauce you must take some broth from the pot and to put it in a deep dish.

Leave it to cool. Pour 40 g. of flour in the dish and mix it well to dilute into the broth thoroughly.

 Pour the broth with the flour into the pot of chickpeas and mix.

Add the lemon juice.

 Put the pot over medium heat and boil the chickpeas for two min.Remove the pot from the heat.

Chickpeas with rice
Put the remaining chickpeas and their broth into the saucepan and put it over medium heat.

Let them boil for 2-3 minutes and then remove them from the heat.

Wash 100 grams of rice and pour it into the saucepan with the chickpeas.
Place the saucepan over medium heat and stir well to prevent rice from sticking.

Leave the rice to boil about 10 minutes, or as long as it is necessary to soften.

Put a tablespoon of the food in a small saucer and taste it. If you don’t like its taste, you should correct it.

Add little more salt or some lemon juice.

Zucchini and potatoes in the oven (like fried)

ZUCCHINI AND POTATOES IN THE OVEN 

Ingredients

1.5 kg small or medium zucchini

5 large potatoes

Salt to taste

130 gr. olive oil

Instructions

Put the oil in a cup.

Use three shallow pans. The trays of the pizza are suitable.

Dip a brush in the oil and anoint the three pans with it.

Put enough oil so the zucchini and the potatoes can absorb some of it.

If you smear the pans with very little oil, the vegetables will stuck.

Wash the zucchini well.

If you see that there is soil stuck on some places of the zucchini peel, remove it with a knife.

Cut each zucchini into 3 or 4 oblong slices.

Place the slices in the baking trays next to each other.

Put some salt over the slices.

Dip a brush in the oil and smear the slices on top.

The slices of the zucchinis fill completely the first pan and the half from the second pan.

Place the full pan in the oven on the first rack on top.

Turn on the oven to 200 C degrees.

Peel the potatoes.

Rinse thoroughly and cut into large slices lengthwise.

Cut each potato into 5 slices.

Fill with potato slices the half full second pan.

Smear with oil the top of the vegetable slices.

Place the pan with the zucchini and potatoes in the oven on the middle rack.

Cut the rest of the potatoes in 5 slices each. Place them next to each other in the third pan.

If the potatoes are not enough to fill the pan clean some more.

Coat the potatoes on top with oil. Place the pan on the bottom rack of the oven.

Bake the three pans simultaneously with the hot air of the oven.

They do not need much cooking.

15-20 minutes is enough.

 The zucchinis in the pan on top get cooked first and smell nicely.

If you look at them they have a light brown color.

Take the pan out of the oven.

Be careful not to drop anything on the second pan that is under of the first pan.

Look at the zucchini carefully.

If you see that they are cooked on top but they aren’t cooked underneath, turn them over in the pan and put the pan back in the oven.

Bake for 5 minutes or as long as needed to get cooked on that side too.

Once the zucchini is prepared on both sides take the pan out of the oven.

After a little while look to the zucchini and potatoes of the second pan.

If they are cooked on top and uncooked underneath turn them over.

Put the pan back into the oven and bake more.

Continue in the same way with potatoes in the third pan.

When they are well cooked on both sides, take the third pan off the oven.

Let the vegetables to cool slightly in their pan.

So they will unstuck easily and you will be able to put them on a platter

Put on another platter the potatoes.

In this manner you make fried potatoes and fried zucchini in the oven.

Vegetables baked in the oven are very tasty, and they are lighter because they don’t absorb a lot of oil.

In the same way they you can fry in the oven carrots cut in half and onions cut in rings.
You can accompany these vegetables with tzatziki, or a spicy cheese dip, or a garlic sauce.