some help with pulses, beans etc please

busiscoming2

I'd like to incorporate beans and pulses more into our daily diet.

I've bought a tin of Green Lentils and a carton of Cannellini Beans but would like to know if I can just add these to one of my usual dishes like spag bol, curries and stews etc. I am a little wary as I know some pulses etc can be dangerous if not cooked in the correct manner.

Thanks

lilmisskitkat

Hi

As far as i know it is only dried beans that you need to be careful with, these need soaking and boiling before you can use them. Tinned beans/pulses have already been sorted and you can just open the tin, rinse and add them to your recipes.

Hth

K xx

valk_scot

busiscoming2 wrote: »

I'd like to incorporate beans and pulses more into our daily diet.

I've bought a tin of Green Lentils and a carton of Cannellini Beans but would like to know if I can just add these to one of my usual dishes like spag bol, curries and stews etc. I am a little wary as I know some pulses etc can be dangerous if not cooked in the correct manner.

Thanks

Tinned beans and pulses are already cooked so you can eat them straight out the can, cooking water and all.

The one you're thinking of is dried kidney beans. These need soaked as for any beans, then drained and rinsed and then when you cook them you need to bring them up to a rolling boil for twenty minutes before using them like any other dried bean. Other dried and soaked beans and dried soaked or unsoaked lentils can be added straight to your stew or whatever, but kidney beans need the boil up first.

But as I said, tinned beans including kidney beans are already processed so they're fine to eat. You can drain a can, add some chopped red onion, drained sweetcorn, diced red pepper and a bit of salad dressing to drained tinned kidney beans for example and it makes a lovely bean salad.

gibson123

Before using cooked beans from a tin make sure you rinse them properly, this will reduce the after effects ( ok farts), beans are incredibly MSE even more so if you buy dried and soak and use then yourself. They are also incredibly good for cholesterol, and good for your health. The best website about beans are usually vegetarian or vegan websites, as beans form a larger part of these diets. Here is a link: http://www.vegancoach.com/how-to-cook-beans.html

joedenise

Great website gibson 123.

Denise

busiscoming2

Great thanks, makes life easier knowing I can open and eat

I've bookmarked that website Gibson, thanks.

zippychick

Valk has answered perfectly

I'll merge this with pulses quick questions later

Zip

Seakay

Here is a list of cooking times for soaked beans (overnight in cold water) and for soaked and unsoaked lentils:
http://www.nutri-ception.co.uk/office/documents/pdf/NCF0203.pdf

I would also suggest borrowing The Bean Book by Rose Elliot from the library - you may not want to go vegetarian but this book will give you a good idea of the variety of dishes which can be made.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=the+bean+book+rose+elliot&!!!!!googhydr-21&index=stripbooks&hvadid=9487244701&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10421147271296576348&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&ref=pd_sl_5pf2wmnef0_b
I can especially recommend the continental lentil and walnut loaf cooked as a loaf or as burgers as something which non-vegetarians can enjoy. You can use green or brown lentils in the recipe, puy lentils are not so good as they don't mash well.
As a student in a shared house I sometimes cooked the mock goose as a Sunday treat with roasties or mash and apple sauce and gravy, maybe even a green veg! I always called it lentil loaf as it bears no ressemblance to any known meat, but the stuffing makes it very tasty and the red lentils require no soaking and are easy to find.

Red lentils or tinned lentils are great for adding to stews and meat sauces such as bolognaise because they bulk it and absorb flavour while adding protein as well as fibre and carbohydrate.
Tinned beans such as cannelloni can be added to stews, mashed and flavoured for use as a dip or pate, pureed for use as a protein rich vegetable accompaniament.