Using bean powder to make mashed beans.

[Silhorn]

Hi,

 

I want to make mashed beans without all the mashing. I have an idea of cooking bean powder with water in a pot which hopefully will turn out to look like mashed beans.

 

Has anyone tried this before?

 

 

[Tri2Cook]

Hi,

 

I want to make mashed beans without all the mashing. I have an idea of cooking bean powder with water in a pot which hopefully will turn out to look like mashed beans.

 

Has anyone tried this before?

It will almost definitely turn out to look like mashed (or pureed) beans... but not having tried this particular product myself, I have no idea what it will taste like as compared to freshly mashed beans.

[Jaymes]

Like most dishes, refried beans made "from scratch" using good, fresh ingredients are superior to refried beans made with instant rehydrated products.

 

That said, I do know for a fact that a great many Mexican restaurants do use some of the assorted brands of instant beans.  And I've eaten them myself fairly often.  My father loved to take his motorcoach off on adventures and when he got too old to safely do that by himself, we kids would take turns going with him.

 

He loved Mexican food, and refried beans (especially molletes with beans and avocados for breakfast), and packets of the powder were the easiest thing to take with us, and to cook, by far.  The truth is that, given what they are, they're not bad - especially when you dress them up with some salsa, butter, cheese, pico, sour cream, what-have-you. They're certainly good enough for things like bean dip, nachos, molletes, etc.  And it's handy to keep a couple packages in your pantry for last-minute dinners when you simply do not have the time to make refried beans from scratch which, let's face it, does take some advance planning.  I think they're better than canned refried beans, which are a staple in many kitchens. If you don't want the vegetarian and/or low-fat option, you can reconstitute them using chicken or beef broth, or even stir in a little lard or chopped bacon or chorizo or whatever. 

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There are quite a few brands.  You can go online and read reviews, but, especially since my dad had health issues, he preferred this non-fat vegetarian brand:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Santa-Fe-Bean-Vegetarian-7-25-Ounce/dp/B000FICDO8/ref=pd_sim_325_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1CCQW7XKADV29SVX8WNN&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR111%2C160_

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Edited September 13, 2015 by Jaymes (log)

[Silhorn]

Ok so I will try cooking with bean powder and see how it turns out.

 

Thanks for your helps.

[btbyrd]

I'm not sure what bean powder is supposed to be, but if it's anything like bean flour, the texture is going to be all wrong. Instead of being like mashed beans, it will be closer to a puree. There are a lot of recipes for bean dip that call for bean flour, and that's the sort of smooth texture you'll end up with. Add more liquid, and you'll have bean soup. Not to say that what you make won't be delicious, but it won't resemble mashed beans (except in flavor).

[Jaymes]

I probably should have been more specific in my response.  Silhorn did ask about bean "powder."  I do think of the instant refried beans as "bean powder," but they're not.  They're actual dehydrated beans. You can even pick them up one by one.  Which my dad sometimes did as a snack.

 

My response as being a pretty good product is about these dehydrated beans, like the ones to which I linked.

 

Silhorn, if you're talking about actual bean powder, or flour, that doesn't sound workable to me.

 

But if you do want an acceptable dish of refried "mashed beans without all the mashing," I definitely do suggest you give one of the instant dehydrated refried bean products a try.

 

That's exactly what they're for.  If you've got some other sort of "bean powder" in mind, I can't help you.

 

And I'm sorry if I misled you.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Jaymes (log)

[btbyrd]

I'll also add that there are some decent canned refried beans out there. They're not fantastic or anything, but if you doctor them up a bit (combine them with some onion/garlic sauteed in bacon fat and thin them out with some chicken or pork stock) they can be quite tasty. No mashing required.