If you cannot master a bowl of bean soup, how can you speak of nobility? | Grandma Kouzi

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I. The Bean Soup of Ennoblement

In a previous article, I mentioned wheat meal; this time, let’s talk about bean soup. These two humble staples carry a wealth of information; they require a tidy kitchen and a well-tended stove, and they demand our utmost attention. Yan Shigu of the Tang dynasty, in his commentary on the Western Han primer *Jijiupian* , wrote: “Wheat meal is made by grinding wheat with its husk and boiling it; sweet bean soup is made by boiling small beans with rice-wash water. Some say it is simply small beans boiled into a soup without vinegar, and since the taste is purely sweet, it is called sweet bean soup. Both wheat meal and bean soup are merely the fare of peasants and farmers.” Whether it is called bean soup or sweet bean soup, and whether it is boiled with rice water or plain water, my understanding is that, at its core, it is simply a pot of bean porridge.

Whenever wheat meal and bean soup meet, countless stories unfold. The *Book of the Later Han: Biography of Feng Yi* records: “When Wang Lang rose, Guangwu rushed from the southeast of Ji, staying in thatched huts day and night until he reached Wulu Pavilion in Raoyang. The weather was bitterly cold, and the party was hungry and exhausted; Feng Yi served bean porridge. The next morning, Guangwu said to his generals, ‘Thanks to Gongsun’s bean porridge, both our hunger and cold have been banished.’ Upon reaching Nangong, a great storm broke out. Guangwu steered his carriage into an empty shed by the road; Feng Yi gathered firewood, Deng Yu lit the fire, and Guangwu warmed his clothes by the stove. Feng Yi then served wheat meal and rabbit meat. They subsequently crossed the Tuotuo River to Xindu, where Feng Yi was tasked with recruiting troops from Hejian. Upon his return, he was appointed Partial General. After helping to defeat Wang Lang, he was enfeoffed as the Marquess of Ying.”

One can imagine the state of desperation Liu Xiu’s party had reached, with great generals like Feng Yi and Deng Yu reduced to gathering wood and lighting fires. Had Feng Yi not provided that timely offering of bean porridge and wheat meal, history might have been rewritten, and the later Emperor Guangwu might never have existed.

● A portrait of Feng Yi from the Qing dynasty work *Donghan Yanyi Ping*.
It is a pity that Foodthink didn’t exist back then, otherwise there would certainly have been a more detailed exploration of the “important roles” played by bean porridge and wheat meal in the Biography of Feng Yi. However, the “roadside agency” – the grapevine of gossip – has existed through every dynasty. Men would travel ten thousand li in pursuit of a title; once Feng Yi was ennobled, rumours began to swirl with great momentum: “Listen up, everyone! Picking the right original shares and following the right startup CEO is obviously important, but tens of thousands of people followed the Emperor hoping to achieve such power. You can’t just rely on having the right boss… you also need to be well-versed in bean porridge and wheat meal, so you can source ingredients and eat wherever you go. Not only does this keep you alive and functioning, but more importantly, it helps your children stand out among their peers…” History tied to food lingers around the hearth and stove, its fragrance echoing through a thousand years.

II. Bean Porridge is Good, but Beware of Phytic Acid

I love bean porridge, especially mixed bean porridge, and I always keep ingredients at home—not just the raw beans, but “finished bean porridge”. When I cook bean porridge, I use a dozen different types of beans: black beans, soybeans, pigeon peas, peas, chickpeas, red beans, mung beans, borlotti beans, white beans, and lima beans. For grains, I commonly use wheat berries, wheat kernels, buckwheat, maize, millet, sorghum, and various brown rices, including red and black long-grain and glutinous varieties…

“Why so many beans?” I don’t think that’s a problem; as everyone knows, the more varieties, the more comprehensive the nutrition. Among the beans I use, there are both green-seeded and yellow-seeded varieties of black beans, and pigeon peas are further divided into brown and Hainan white pigeon peas…

● This is a staged photo. If you want to see how many types of mixed grains are in my “Valley of the Villains”, you can refer to my previous article, Amidst the Current Cooking Oil Crisis, Do We Really Need That Much Oil?, where I show my grain storage cabinet.

Once you have chosen the right beans, you must also choose the right way to eat them. While such a dazzling array of beans is nutrient-rich, if you simply dump a basin of these gems into a pot and boil them, you will unfortunately ingest anti-nutrients—phytic acid—alongside the nutrition.

Phytic acid (phytic acid), also known as inositol hexaphosphate, is the form in which plants store phosphorus; a single molecule contains six phosphate groups. If you’ve read this far and thought, “Haha, wonderful! It contains so much phosphorus, it’s perfect for supplementing trace elements,” then congratulations—you’ve got it wrong.

● Molecular formula of phytic acid. Source: Wikipedia
Humans sit at the very top of the food chain; we see something we like, and we eat it, making no distinction between animal or plant. But neither animals nor plants were born to be eaten; their biological instinct is to survive and propagate their species. To avoid being consumed, animals evolved to fly or run, while plants could only rely on passive defence. Their primary physical weapons are armour—grains, legumes, and nuts all have shells. Phytic acid, however, is a chemical weapon evolved by plants to prevent them from being eaten. Modern science describes this as “the chelating effect of phytic acid on minerals, trace elements, and proteins, making these nutrients difficult for the intestines to absorb.” In plain English: plants knew their physical armour had its limits, so they decided to carry chemical weapons as well.

“Phytic acid contains six negatively charged phosphate groups, giving it a strong chelating ability for proteins and minerals; for example, calcium-magnesium inositol hexaphosphate (phytin) chelates calcium and magnesium…” According to the gossip mill, this means that once phytic acid enters your stomach, its six phosphate groups are ready to fight to the death, determined to take the nutrients down with them. Calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc are all essential nutrients for the human body, but once they are gripped tightly by phytic acid and turned into calcium phosphate, magnesium phosphate, iron phosphate, or zinc phosphate, it is a different story entirely.

If you are lucky, these are simply flushed out of the body, leaving you to have “eaten for nothing”—the result being various nutritional deficiencies. If you are unlucky, these various phosphates set up camp in the body; once they huddle together, they can form stones. The motto of phytic acid is effectively: “Come on, let’s hurt each other.”

Phytic acid is most concentrated in the outer husks of grains, such as rice bran, and in legumes, it is primarily found in the cotyledons (the bean halves). Modern scientific measurements show that plant-based foods like grains, legumes, and nuts all contain high levels of phytic acid. When I first realised this, I nearly wept in my kitchen—these are the foods I love!

III. The Art of Cooking Porridge

As a meat-free foodie, I have little to eat besides beans. I wondered: can I eat these foods without consuming their phytic acid? After careful research, I concluded that it is possible. Cooking bean porridge in the following manner is one such method.

Whenever I prepare beans, I soak them for 48 hours first, using the sprouting process to convert the phytic acid.

Scientific research confirms that sprouting and fermentation can effectively degrade phytic acid. Once a plant triggers the sprouting reaction, it senses that the crisis of survival has passed and it can enter the mode of propagation. The chemical weapons stored in its body are no longer needed, so it immediately reorganises them into nutrients.

Of course, I must note that the most effective way to convert phytic acid is not sprouting, but fermentation. Sprouting can convert about sixty per cent of phytic acid, while fermentation can reach ninety per cent. In terms of pure conversion, fermentation is the superior method. Turning rice into sweet fermented rice or koji, or beans into natto or tempeh, is quite a chore and success isn’t guaranteed. Cooking porridge, however, has zero barrier to entry and a hundred per cent success rate.

● Slightly sprouted; just the right time for cooking porridge.

When soaking beans, I usually change the water every few hours. During the height of summer, I simply pop the whole bowl of beans into the fridge at noon to prevent them from turning sour. In truth, you don’t necessarily need a full 48 hours; 24 hours is often enough for the beans to begin their sprouting reaction.

Rice should be kept in a separate bowl; for the sake of convenience, never soak them together. This is because cooking the porridge also requires a two-step process. First, the beans are pre-boiled. Legumes contain many “treasures” we don’t actually want, not just phytic acid, but also purines. Purines dissolve in water, especially hot water, so I recommend a quick boil to clear them all away.

After boiling for ten minutes, pour the soaked rice and other grains into the pot. If using new rice, turn off the heat immediately, wait two minutes, and drain the hot water. If using old rice, I suggest boiling everything together for two minutes before turning off the heat and draining. The rushing water carries away not only the phytic acid and purines, but also the “astringency” of brown rice and the stale smell of old rice. This is an effective technique for removing anti-nutrients from grains.

Thus, a pot of porridge that has been soaked, sprouted, pre-boiled, and drained is finally ready for its formal cooking.

I use a large electric pot to make a full batch. Some may worry that cooking it this way will cause it to boil over. If we place a steamer basket on top of the pot, it won’t overflow; I won’t bore you with the physics behind that here.

With such a huge pot, I suspect even ten people couldn’t finish it. That’s fine; whatever isn’t eaten can be frozen.

Some will certainly say that reheating frozen food “doesn’t taste as good,” but the practice of a foodie over hundreds of attempts proves otherwise: for bean porridge, it tastes great. Microwaving preserves the original flavour to the greatest extent. I usually boil a small pot of water, add the defrosted porridge, and simmer for five minutes. The texture is nearly identical. You can even innovate: simmer it with oats to make a mixed bean and oat porridge, and add a few hibiscus flowers for extra fragrance and smoothness… As the gossip mill long ago told us: all roads lead to nobility, provided you are willing to put in the effort. Spending time perfecting your bean porridge might not grant you the sudden luck of Feng Yi’s ascent to nobility, but at the very least, you’ll eat healthily and deliciously, wouldn’t you agree?

Since we are on the subject of freezing, let me add one more thing: this pot of frozen porridge (note the word *frozen*) not only removes anti-nutrients but can also convert a weight-gain poison (starch) into a weight-loss tool (resistant starch).

Taking only the definition from those expensive resistant starch advertisements: “In environments below 4°C… starch undergoes retrogradation, the molecular chains curl, dehydrate, and shrink, thereby reducing the contact area with amylase and lowering the digestion rate…” In street-talk: if a man’s lifelong pursuit is nobility, a woman’s is weight loss. Any carbohydrate you love but fear will make you fat—be it cooked porridge, steamed buns, or rice—can produce resistant starch if frozen for a day or more after cooking. This process is irreversible. When reheated, the taste and texture may return to normal, but the resistant starch will remain.

Now, doesn’t the idea of reheating bean porridge from the freezer seem not only delicious but quite lovely?

● A sumptuous “Villain’s Valley” dinner including bean porridge.

Foodthink Author
Kouzi
Farmer and resolute trekker, village brewmaster. Full-time foodie, part-time farmer, amateur writer.

 

 

 

Unless otherwise stated, all images are provided by the author

Editor: Wang Hao

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