1. Wash and pick the beans and soak them in water. (About 12 hours) This will allow the beans to soften and expand. The first picture is of beans that have just been soaked, and the second picture is of beans that have been soaked overnight and have more than doubled in size;

2. Drain the soaked beans;

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3. Soak the red dates in warm water, wash and set aside.

4. Put the beans with controlled moisture (not dry is fine) into the wok, turn on medium heat and stir-fry, stirring constantly to avoid burning the pot. After the beans are fragrant, turn off the heat and put in the rice cooker. You can also choose a pressure cooker or a casserole. Pressure cookers save time. The aroma from the casserole. I use a rice cooker. Just like making porridge;

5. When adding water for the first time, the amount of water should be large, twice as much as the beans. Turn on the cooking mode, and after the pot boils, the color will change. At this time, add edible alkali, as shown in the picture above. Boil it with water and add cold water, then add edible alkali, the same amount as above. After boiling the water for the third time, add cold water and then add edible alkali in the same amount as above. In other words, the dosage of edible alkali is 3 in the picture above. After adding water for the third time, the beans will basically be soft. If not, you can crush them with a spoon. After adding water, add red dates and cook slowly. This process was very long and it took me a full 4 hours to get that soft feeling. When drinking gray beans, just put some sugar.