Need a substitute for beans

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Chief Longwind Of The North

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I love legumes, peas, beans, and lentils. However, except for green, and wax beans, I have to severely limit my bean intake.

Lately, I've been very hungry for pork and beans, or baked beans. The sauce flavor is easy. But replacing navy, Great Northern, or black beans is a challenge. Though hominy has a similar texture, the flavor isn't right. It also doesn't work for making re fried beans.

P.A.G. was looking for a substitute and though that faro might work. If anyone has any suggestions, please share.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
What is it about beans that is at issue? I think they may be high in potassium, and maybe you are watching that?

You hit one nail on the head, make the sauce as you like and then add the veggie to combine.

Cauliflower, It gets used for everything these days. Not riced, not mashed, Chopped. Add carrots. Or, make cauli pizza crust, ladle the bake beans sauce on instead of pizza sauce, and try it that way.

I would try Couscous and see how that works. Never had any, that I know of, so I don't know, even though it's centuries old.. It looks like it would take to a sauce well.

Good luck too.
 
What about gnocci? You could reduce their size to replicate the beans. Texture might be close and the sauce coating them would certainly help.

As Whiska asks... what part of the legume beans do you need to avoid?
 
Chief has mentioned chronic kidney disease before, so he needs to minimize potassium.

I think couscous or gnocchi are great ideas. They have that soft, starchy texture similar to beans.
 
I like the idea of gnocchi! I didn't even think about that.

Like mentioned already farro and couscous could do it. I will add that I think you'd want pearl couscous though for the same texture/shape. I love doing a Mediterranean style pearl couscous that is baked in the oven.

For something similar to refried black or pinto beans, I think pureed veggies like cauliflower could work great! You could sautee cumin seed, onions, tomatoes, roasted garlic, cilantro stems, etc.. in a pan with some sort of fat (maybe pork or bacon fat!). Then add some blanched cauliflower heads and stems. You want them really soft so they puree easily. And then just go to town with an emulsion blender. Maybe even melt some cheese on top :)

Anywho. Just an idea!
 
How about Quinoa? It has some potassium but if you mixed it with say rice or couscous you might have a magic combination. Has the added benefit of protein.
 
I was thinking of barley, as far as grains go, since they have a texture they keep, and give the thickness to the liquid, but I looked it up, and there is quite a bit of K in it.
 
I imagine quinoa, farro, couscous are all too small to replicate the idea of eating a bean. In my imagination they just wouldn't make me think I was still eating baked beans. Still like my idea of the gnocc i, even though it would be a bit of a chore to cut them down to size, unless of course, you make your own.

Not sure they would work for 'refried' but might.

My one attempt to make gnocci - even the chickens would n't eat'em.
 
GG, thanks for that great video from Kenji. I think I've only had bad ricotta and now I even know how to make it. I will most definitely be trying this although I personally know if it took him only 20 minutes to get dinner ready, it will take me 60. :ermm::chef:
 
I thought I heard kids in the background a couple of times, maybe he's cooking from home. Fun. I don't think I could cook as fast as J Kenji accomplishes, but then, it's not a horse-race.

Speaking of gnocchi, maybe spaetzle (sp?) might be a reasonable substitute too. My grandma's recipe was quite heavy, so it might hold up well to a bake bean type dish. Gram's recipe is the same as found in a Joy of Cooking cookbook, unchanged over mult editions. German restaurant spaetzle I've had was lighter and tossed with buttered bread crumbs, so what's with my Gram and Irma Rombauer? But ok in soup and may take well to a sauce.

Anyway, tossing it out there for consideration.
 
I thought I heard kids in the background a couple of times, maybe he's cooking from home. Fun. I don't think I could cook as fast as J Kenji accomplishes, but then, it's not a horse-race.

Speaking of gnocchi, maybe spaetzle (sp?) might be a reasonable substitute too. My grandma's recipe was quite heavy, so it might hold up well to a bake bean type dish. Gram's recipe is the same as found in a Joy of Cooking cookbook, unchanged over mult editions. German restaurant spaetzle I've had was lighter and tossed with buttered bread crumbs, so what's with my Gram and Irma Rombauer? But ok in soup and may take well to a sauce.

Anyway, tossing it out there for consideration.


Oh goodie Wiska, I'm darn good at making spaetzle..here's a long thread from long ago...
https://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f20/tips-on-spaetzle-91799.html
 
I thought I heard kids in the background a couple of times, maybe he's cooking from home. Fun. I don't think I could cook as fast as J Kenji accomplishes, but then, it's not a horse-race.

Speaking of gnocchi, maybe spaetzle (sp?) might be a reasonable substitute too. My grandma's recipe was quite heavy, so it might hold up well to a bake bean type dish. Gram's recipe is the same as found in a Joy of Cooking cookbook, unchanged over mult editions. German restaurant spaetzle I've had was lighter and tossed with buttered bread crumbs, so what's with my Gram and Irma Rombauer? But ok in soup and may take well to a sauce.

Anyway, tossing it out there for consideration.
Yes, he is cooking from home. He has one daughter, Alicia, who is about three years old.
 
Is the problem oxylates? If so, I have a friend like that and she has joined some groups to figure out what she can have. I can ask her if it's a FB group or what it is, if Chef Long wants me to.

Otherwise, thee are any manners of grains. I don't equate legumes and grains but if it works for Chef, why not. There is teff, amaranth, and spelt. Three are many other specialty grains too. I suggest either looking at Whole Foods or another large, health food type store, and buying there or on Amazon or even at discounters.

Good luck!
 
Yes, it's the minerals phosphorous and Potassium that my kidneys no longer process. Both of them are responsible,for many biologic functions in the body. Too much an cause heart problems, calcium loss from bones, poor muscle function. Potassium is easier for me to control, and root veggies that are naturally rich in potassium can usually be pre-soaked, or double boiled to remove excess k. All dried legumes are high in phosphorous. I take phosphorous binders to keep my K in balance.

This is the reason I am looking for a bean substitute. I use to love all kinds of bean dishes, savory, sweet, tangy, multi-bean salads, refried beans, chili with kidney beans, etc. I was even served a bean pie once, that I honestly thought was pumpkin pie, until I was told otherwise.

Don't allow yourself to become diabetic, and if you already are, take care of your blood sugars. Kidney failure, and dialysis are no fun. But I can still eat BBQ,:yum:Oh, and everyone, thanks for the ideas. I'll be trying them out in July. :mrgreen:

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
Do you love beans or bean dishes? The latter seems to be the case unless you ate piles of plain cooked beans. If you didn't eat plain beans, focus on the added stuff, not the beans, and use pasta in your favorite bean recipes. Start with sea shell pasta. Experiment with cooking time to get the approximate texture of what you liked in beans.
 
What you describe sounds a lot like a food allergy. Simplified, food allergy creates a craving for food we should never eat. After allergy tests, my allergist said I was probably allergic to dairy and onions (favorite foods: burgers topped with onions and pizza). He said, totally avoid dairy and onions for 2 weeks. If the tests are right, after 2 weeks of total abstinence, you will have no desire to go back to eating either of them. The tests were right.​
Try the allergy test. Stop trying to emulate beans and avoid all flavors that remind you of bean dishes for 2 weeks.​


 

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