Cinque,

What a wonderful idea, thanks ?

Hi Cinque,

I love legumes of all varieties so will look forward to more recipes.
We use them in Hungarian cooking, but I have never worked out the calories. I just know that Hungarian cooking (the traditional way) is not conducive to weight loss. So would have to modify 🙂

Coast

Madhur Jaffrey is fab. I have an ancient book of hers which is a replacement when it was reprinted as the original fell apart. Something like 85% of the population of India are Hindu and the majority are vegetarian so Indian cook books are an excellent source of vegetarian and vegan recipes and can all be adapted by cutting down on the amount of oil and using seasonal vegetables and spice quantities to suit individual tastes. My favourite FD dinner is vegetable curry, the version I have in the freezer at the moment contains green lentils, but I use chana (chick peas) and am going to try other types of peas and lentils in the future. Black eyed peas are fab and are used in the West Indian rice and peas so often served with curry goat. I’m thinking about a veg version of it ie using a Caribbean spice mix, adding the peas to it and cutting out the rice. I think that would work very well. If it is good I’ll post it.

Thanks for these recipes! I am loving lentils thanks to Annette52. I modified this NY Times recipe, subbing 1/2 cup dry lentils for half the potatoes (I think the cals work out about the same). It was delicious, even omitting several peppers/spice ingreds I didn’t have on hand. Wish I could post the photo – the baked eggs on top make a lovely presentation.

Indian-Spiced Tomato & Egg Casserole – 6 servings, 280 cals per serv
Ingredients
• 1 ½ pounds fingerling potatoes (or 3/4 lb new potato + 1/2 c dry lentils)
• Kosher salt
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 poblano pepper, seeded if desired, finely chopped
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded if desired, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground garam masala
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
• ¼ cup chopped fresh mint, more for garnish
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro or basil, more for garnish
• 6 eggs
• Black pepper, as needed
Preparation
1. Place potatoes (and lentils) in a large pot and cover with generously salted water. Bring to a boil; cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain. When just cool enough to handle, slice into 1/2-inch-thick rounds (and strain lentils).
2. While potatoes cook, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until almost tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in peppers and cook 3 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, cumin, garam masala and coriander; cook 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Simmer over medium-low heat, breaking up tomatoes with a fork, 15 minutes. Stir in mint and cilantro or basil – and cooked lentils! Taste and adjust seasonings.
3. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place potatoes in a single layer in a 9-inch-square baking dish. Pour the hot tomato sauce over potatoes. Transfer pan to oven and bake 20 minutes.
4. Make six wells in the tomato mixture. Crack eggs into wells and season with salt and pepper. Bake until egg whites are set but yolks are still runny, 8 to 13 minutes, depending on how much the potatoes and sauce cooled before baking (I had to cook a bit longer).
Serve garnished with herbs.

I LOVE beans. But I am carbohydrate intolerant.

I do have a recipe which has been a favourite in our family for almost 50 years. I remember well the day that my son, 3 years of age and never eaten beans before, when called into dinner, ran, yelling “Having beans!”

Baked Beans

smoked ham bone, bacon, salt pork or pork hock or trotter
navy beans – 2-3 cups
2 Tablespoons blackstrap molasses
1onion sliced
water to cover
1 Tablespoon dried mustard
water to cover
salt and pepper

May add tomato – a can of diced tomato or a squirt of ketchup

If you soak the beans first, it will take less time to cook.

Bake in oven all day till done.

Cinque – what is ras en hanout? I assume it is a spice mixture but what is in it? I have never heard of it.

My girlfriend discovered that trick (via the net) a few months ago and it works amazingly well.
We’ve also started eating a lot more beans and pulses with a little help from some excellent cookbooks.

I never thought I’d enjoy green lentil salad but I’m a convert.

This is great! Beans have been mainstays in my diet for about 3 years now. They help me feel satisfied and they taste so good.

Here is a favorite. It’s good as an accompaniment for other curries or Indian dishes. It’s also great as a vegetarian main dish. And leftovers are equally good cold.

The ingredient list is long but I’ve never found anything to be difficult to find or expensive and then combine quickly and easily.

Red Lentil Curry
Serving Size: 8

• 2 cups red lentils
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons curry paste
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon ginger root, minced
• 1 (14.25 ounce) can tomato puree

1. Wash the lentils in cold water until the water runs clear (this is a very important step; don’t skip or shortchange it or the lentils will clump together and release a less than pleasant froth layer), put the lentils in a pot with chicken broth to cover and simmer covered until lentils tender (add more water if necessary).

2. While the lentils are cooking, in a large skillet or saucepan, caramelize the onions in vegetable oil.

3. While the onions are cooking, combine the curry paste, curry powder, turmeric, cumin, chili powder, salt, sugar, garlic, and ginger in a mixing bowl. Mix well. When the onions are cooked, add the curry mixture (it isn’t necessary to add it all if you want less spicy; you can always add more later) to the onions and cook over a high heat stirring constantly for 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Stir in the tomato puree and some coconut milk and reduce heat, allow the curry base to simmer until the lentils are ready.

5. When the lentils are tender drain them briefly (they should have absorbed most of the water but you don’t want the curry to be too sloppy). Mix the curry base into the lentils and serve immediately.

I don’t think I’ve shared this one yet but it’s soooo yummy I wouldn’t want anyone to miss it. The secret is a nice thick bowl of beans cooked until they fall apart with a sweet sour accent.

I just finished some for lunch and, man!, am I fortified for the rest of the day.

Cuban Style Black Bean Soup

Serving Size: 8

Summary:

This is an interpretation of a Cuban recipe. I’ve modified the kitchn’s recipe according to the comments of some Cuban readers. Apparently, a proper Cuban uses ham hocks with red bean soup but not black bean soup. Still, it sounds so good and I love black beans so I left them in.

Another thing they all noted is that it should begin with a proper sofrito and have cumin and oregano. Some say cilantro is Mexican and not Cuban. And many said no peppers because heat is not a feature of Cuban food. I added jalapeño but I’m careful to eliminate the heat by seeding and deveining the flesh first.

Cubans serve this with white rice and the soup is poured over it.

In the future if I go more “style” than “Cuban” diced tomato and a bit of dark beer sound like potential additions to me.

SOFRITO
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeño, seeded, de-veined and finely minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 teaspoons cumin

SOUP
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 ham bone, smoked ham hock or shank
• 1-2 teaspoons oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/3 cup vinegar
• salt and freshly-ground black pepper
• 1 lb. dried black beans
• sofrito

GARNISH
• sour cream
• raw onion, chopped
• raw red pepper, chopped

The night before cooking the soup, place beans in a colander and wash them with cold running water. Pick out any rocks or beans that are broken or shriveled. Put the beans in a large (4 quarts or larger) Dutch oven or soup pot with a lid and cover with enough cold water so that it comes to one inch over the top of the beans. Soak overnight.

SOFRITO

Carefully seed and de-vein the jalapeño. Finely chop the onion, peppers and garlic. A slap chopper makes quick work of this step.

Warm the olive oil. Add the vegetables and the cumin and sauté until fragrant.

SOUP

Bring the pre-soaked beans to a boil over high heat, adding additional water if necessary. Skim off any white foam, then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Add the sofrito, ham bone or shank, oregano, bay leaves, sugar, olive oil and salt and pepper and cover.

Simmer for 4-5 hours, checking at 2 hours to see if the liquid needs adjusting to keep the beans from drying out.

Continue simmering until the beans are largely broken down, the soup is velvety and coats the back of a spoon. Remove bones. If they were meaty, clean the fat from the meat and the meat from the bone. Chop the meat and return it to the soup.

Taste and add the vinegar to taste also adjusting the salt and pepper and the sugar if need be for a full balanced flavor. Simmer for 15 more minutes to let the favors meld.

Serve allowing everyone to add onions, red pepper and sour cream to taste as a garnish.

Notes: the kitchn’s original version is here: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-cuban-black-bean-soup-98048

I recently bought Nita Mehta’s Dal and Roti. A small cookery book but packed with simple lentil (and bread) recipes, once you get your head around the multiple names used for Indian beans and lentils.

This is a brilliant thread, beans are so underrated these days but really tasty, good for you and economical (especially if you soak and cook your own rather than canned).

Here’s a type of vegetarian goulash I’ve used for years. I put it on the other bean thread but this is its proper home. You can add meat if you like. Butter beans are higher carb and lower protein than other beans, the potato of the bean world! No recipe list as it’s a throw-in style of cooking. I first used it in a bedsit where I only had one cooking ring (and a low budget!)

Soak some soy beans and some chick peas or butter beans (a more floury texture) overnight ( beans total approx 6oz, dry weight, but it’s flexible). Simmer in fresh water very gently until the beans are soft. If using butter beans this doesn’t take long, the other two may be half an hour to an hour. Sauté an onion in butter or olive oil, then add other vegetables of your choice. I use garlic, a couple of sticks chopped celery, green or red sweet peppers and anything else in the fridge that I fancy eg green beans, chopped fennel or celeriac root. Stir them round well in the oil, then add a couple of teaspoons ground paprika, stir gently in the oil for about half a minute, then add a large can or carton of chopped tomatoes and their juice. If you like the flavour, add some caraway seeds for an authentic goulash taste, and if you enjoy smokiness a bit of smoked paprika is good. Then put in your beans of choice and cook gently till the veg are soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you aren’t vegetarian you could add meat, putting it in the oil after the onions, but it doesn’t need it.