This reminded me of a snack I used to make frequently - Spicy Soybeans - which started out with simply dry soybeans. They are dry roasted in a heavy sauté pan or CI skillet, for 10 to 12 minutes, until they are well browned, then dumped into a bowl, and stirred with Chinese seasonings - for 1½ c roasted beans, 1/4 c dark soy sauce, 1 tb Chenkiang vinegar, 2/3 c water, 2 tsp sugar, 2 large scallions (or some garlic chives - something I have a lot more of), sliced, 3 cloves minced garlic, 2 tsp minced ginger, 1 tsp dark sesame oil, and 1-2 tsp hot oil, or 1 tb nam prik pao, if desired. The hot beans sizzle, and suck up much of the liquid, but older beans often remained hard, and I'd have to microwave them, to finish the cooking. At one point, I started using the roasted soybean snacks, which were fairly cheap in the Amish market, back then (plus, they had them unsalted, which was good, since I was adding salt), and heat them, then mix them with the seasonings. At one point, however, when "edamame" got so popular, any of these things got outrageously expensive, and I stopped buying them. I'll have to get back to making them from scratch, using the dried soy, as they are a good snack (unless someone is on a low salt diet!).
