Pulses Novice needs HELP!!!!

I found that my stock of dried pulses were languishing too, so I soaked and cooked the whole lot of them over the course of a week. I bagged them up in 2 cup portions and put them in the freezer. Now I can use them like tinned pulses. I just take a bag of chick peas/ red kidney beans/ black beans or whatever and add them to veg stews, curries, chillies, soups etc (straight from frozen).

Not sure about other pulses but you can definitely cook and then freeze chickpeas - they freeze and reheat really well. Also if you are in a hurry, you can pop them into your meal frozen and they can defrost in the pan!

and also with chickpeas- make them into falafefl - they freeze really well

Good recipe for "Gigantic Beans" as found on the Greek Islands at this site -

http://www.symivisitor.com/fassolada3.htm

- use butter beans for preference, or any other white bean for a change:

Gigantes Plaki
Baked Haricot Beans


INGREDIENTS
500 grams large dried haricot beans, washed, picked over and soaked overnight.
200 ml olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 big ripe marmande tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped or the equivalent in good quality tinned tomatoes.
Parsley, salt and pepper

METHOD
Put the beans and fresh water to cover in a large heavy saucepan and simmer until tender but not mushy. If you have a pressure cooker, this reduces the cooking time considerably. The cooking time is influenced by how hard (or old!) the beans are. Do not be tempted to speed up the process with bicarbonate of soda as it destroys so many nutrients you might as well just eat cardboard and do not add salt at this stage as this toughens the beans.

Drain the cooked beans and allow to dry for a while. Put the oil in a frying pan with onion and garlic and cook gently until just translucent. Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Put the beans in an oven proof dish, pour over the hot sauce, sprinkle with half the parsley, cover tightly and cook in a slow oven for 30-45 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and the remaining parsley before serving.

Note: Keep a close watch on this while it is cooking and if necessary add a little water or tomato juice if there is any danger of scorching or sticking. The end result should be fairly dry with only a small quantity of very richly tomato flavoured sauce rather than the consistency of Heinz baked beans.

See also:

http://labrou.googlepages.com/gigantes.htm

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_19572,00.html

My favourite dish for black eyed beans is a Madhur Jaffrey one. Its really yummy hot or cold and can be frozen.

Spicy Black eyed beans and mushrooms

Serves 4 - 6

½ lb dried black eyed beans, picked over, washed and drained
2 pints water
½ lb mushrooms
6 tbsp veg oil
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
1” stick cinnamon
5oz chopped onions
4 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely chopped
14 oz tomatoes, peeled and chopped (1 lge tin)
2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground turmeric
¼ tsp cayenne
2 tsp salt
black pepper
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander or parsley

1. Put the beans and water into a heavy pot and bring to boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave, undisturbed for 1 hour. (You can soak the beans overnight instead of simmering and leaving for an hour if you prefer.)

2. While the beans are resting, cut the mushrooms into thinnish slices. Heat the oil and sizzle the cumin seeds and cinnamon stick for a few seconds. Add onions and garlic. Fry until turning brown at the edges. Add mushrooms. Stir fry until mushrooms wilt.

3. Add tomatoes, ground coriander, ground cumin, turmeric and cayenne. Stir and cook for a minute or so. Cover, turn heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off heat.

4. Bring beans to boil again. Cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until tender.

5. Add the mushroom / tomato mixture to the beans and their water. Add salt, pepper and fresh coriander. Mix and bring to simmer. Simmer, uncovered on med-low heat for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cinnamon stick before serving.