INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup dry white cannellini beans
1/2 cup dry black beans
3 cups water
1 large yellow onion
1 whole head garlic
1 tablespoon reduced sodium tamari
several shakes of liquid smoke
Add a teaspoon of maple syrup at the end. We used a tablespoon but a teaspoon would’ve been enough.
The Day Before
First, cover the beans with water that is two inches deeper than the top of the beans, and soak them overnight. They need 8 - 12 hours.
The Next Day
Put the beans into the Instant Pot.
Dice the onion. (We cut into chunks in the video, but dicing would have been better.)
Slice the top and bottom from a whole head of garlic, then separate the cloves, slip the skins, and put them into the pot. Of chop them in half first, if you want.
Add the tamari and liquid smoke, but not the syrup. I don’t know about syrup in an Instant Pot.
The Cooking
Put on the lid, close the pressure valve and cook at high pressure for 5 minutes.
Do NOT open the pressure valve when done, but rather use “natural release” which is modern speak for wait for the pressure to come down on its own as the pot cools. After an hour or so, mine was good.
Check the pot. Open the valve and if little or no steam comes out, go ahead and remove the jiggler, then the lid.
Always remove pressure cooker lids with extreme caution, and hold your face away from the pot. Pressurized contents can blast out at you, and if they’re still under pressure, that means they’re still hot. Take care with this tool.
Results
My broth came out better than I could have even imagined! The combination of the smoke and the maple gave it a very ham or bacon flavor without the meat. Both Lance and I were surprised and really loved the flavor.
There’s lots of liquid left, so tomorrow, I’m going to add carrots, celery, and potato to this to make bean soup for dinner. I’m going to partially cook them together in a separate pot and then finish them in the soup. But next time, I think I’d throw the carrots and celery right into the instant pot with the beans, and add the potatoes after (So they wouldn’t get mushy.)
Aside: I’m really enjoying the Instant Pot my girls got me for Christmas!
Notes
My intent was to cook a big batch of dried beans to take the place of canned beans during my week of cooking. The problem? The Instant Pot is too small for that, so I’ll next experiment with cooking them in another way. But the result was a delightful new dish to add to the repertoire, so that’s a win in my book!
