What's soaking?

One of the things that I have implemented over the last few months is using lots more legumes in my cooking. While we eat organic meat only, we do enjoy vegetarian meals and legumes give us great variety in our meals. Legumes are also way cheaper to use than animal protein.

I started with using canned precooked beans and other legumes. I found it took some planning to learn to soak my legumes in advance so that I was not caught dinnerless.
I have also found that overnight soaking is not sufficient...I soak mine for three days - two out on a counter and one overnight in the fridge. I change the water once or twice a day as well.



Black beans soaking which find their way into bean burritos, bean chilli or frijoles.



Chickpeas soaking which go into chickpea stew & humus (which we eat a lot of).



A friend of mine has also blessed me with a keffir plant. This is used for making youghurt which is full of probiotics and good things for the digestive tract.



You simply put it in 500ml organic unpasterized milk and allow it to stand at room temperature for up to three days until it thickens.



Thereafter you can sieve it through a clothe and it makes the most yummy yoghurt for morning muesli!