Bean Salad, what am I doing wrong?

[ohgoonthen]

Hi Ladies,

Our local deli does a gorgeous bean salad but it's v.v.expensive so I decided to make some at home for me and DH. Bought a packet of Waitrose 10 bean mix and soaked half a packet over night ( a good 12 hours). Boiled them for 30 mins next day as it said on packet but they weren't even starting to go soft and the water was black and slimey (like in a tin of Kidney beans). Kept boiling...nearly 2 hours in the end and beans were still as hard as a brick!
Where am I going wrong? Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help!

i would forget buying dried and buy tinned they are just as good and much much easier.

It is true that home cooked beans a lot firmer than you will get in a ready prepared salad or a tin.

I'd go with a tin too-at least until you have experimented with a few and feel confident or happy with testure.

Chickpeas are good as are kidney beans (but I think kidney beans are rather indegistible in a salad.)

Flageolet good, butter beans too althoguh latter rather soft.

I add additional vegetables to make it less beany-maybe finely chopped celery with onions an herbs and vinaigrette.

tinned here too. I'd really rather start from scratch but after years of trying and hating reconstitued dry beans, I've "given myself permission" to use tinned and never looked back.

Yeah...I think it might have to be tinned. The thing is, they are really expensive here (not in the UK) but everyone here eats the dried...maybe its because its a bag of "mixed" ones and they don't all cook at the same time!
Moondog - the deli here adds celery, sweetcorn, green beams and red onion with a little vinegarette!! Yummy

If beans are old then they take ages to cook.

Have you got a pressure cooker? I'd use one of those.

If not, then definitely buy tins!