For sheer convenience, canned pulses are hard to beat
I like to champion unsung heroes of the kitchen. Cheap and healthy, pulses, the dried edible seeds of the pea and bean family, are often overlooked. But pulses have lots of good things going for them. They’re nutritious, high-fibre and cholesterol-free. They’re also delicious.
Canned or dried pulses are something which I would recommend always having in your store cupboard. They’re fantastically useful ingredients, which you can use to make a meal, as a side dish or add to dishes to give body, taste and texture.
For sheer convenience, canned pulses are hard to beat. On the other hand, dried pulses have a great texture and flavour, and offer excellent value.
Do remember that while dried lentils don’t need pre-soaking before cooking, dried beans do need to be pre-soaked. Soaking your pulses overnight softens them and speeds up the cooking time.
Drain the cooked pulses, then cook them in plenty of fresh water, bringing the water to the boil, then reducing the heat and simmering them until tender. In the autumn or winter, add lentils or beans to dishes such as hearty, chunky soups, braises or stews. Alternately, use them to make a purée and serve with meat. I’m very partial to serving lentils with game.
In the spring and summer, use pulses in salads. A Puy lentil salad with chunks of soft goat’s cheese and fresh herbs makes a very stylish starter. Alternatively, try an Italian classic: white bean and tuna salad, made from tinned tuna with cannellini beans, tossed with olive oil, a touch of garlic, lemon juice and lots of parsley. Simple to make, but very good to eat.
I’ll let you into a little secret. Add some red wine to your lentils when you’re simmering them or simply mix in a splash of red wine to your cooked lentils – this gives a great flavour.
Borlotti beans:
Pink-brown in colour with maroon marbling, these pretty beans are very popular in Italian cookery. Use them to make Pasta e Fagioli, a classic Italian bean and pasta soup.
Butter beans:
These large pale beans have a mild, sweet flavour. My recipe for Braised Pork with Butter Beans partners them with a meltingly tender, slow-cooked pork in a winning combination.
Cannellini beans:
These small, cream-coloured, kidney-shaped beans are very versatile indeed. I like to use them in salads, but they are also excellent added to soups and stews, or simply cooked in tomato sauce with sage and served as a vegetable dish on the side.
Chickpeas:
These rounded, orange-yellow beans have a distinctive nutty flavour. I like to add cooked chickpeas to soups together with a few slices of fried chorizo sausage for a touch of spice. In Middle Eastern cookery, ground chickpeas are used to make houmous and also falafel – those tasty, deep-fried fritters; both are great for snacking on.
Flageolet:
This elegant, pale green bean, with its creamy and delicate texture is very popular in France. The next time you’re cooking roast lamb, try making my rich Cream of Flageolet Beans as a side dish – lamb and flageolet go together very well.
Green lentils:
Everyday green lentils are excellent for purées or added to soups. For me, lentils and bacon are a great combination. Try my Bacon, Lentil and Cabbage Soup and see for yourself.
Haricot beans:
These small, white beans are great in slow-cooked dishes as they keep their shape without disintegrating. The French use them in cassoulet – a super-rich dish of beans and meats – and they’re excellent for making homemade baked beans with.
Kidney beans:
If you’re cooking these dark red-purple beans from dried, not after soaking, cook them in fresh water and make sure that you boil them fast for 10 minutes to rid them of toxins, then reduce the heat and simmer them as normal. Use them in bean salads or try them in that spicy favourite – chilli con carne.
Puy lentils:
The Rolls Royce of the lentil world, these small green-brown lentils have a great flavour and retain their texture when cooked. Use them in salads, tossed with a balsamic vinegar dressing, chopped cherry tomatoes and lots of shredded fresh basil or chopped parsley.
Split red lentils:
These little salmon pink lentils turn a deep yellow colour when cooked. These are classically used in Indian dahls, where they are cooked until they form a tender purée and flavoured with fried garlic and spices such as cumin and mustard seeds.
Split yellow peas:
I like to use this old-fashioned, homely pulse with ham stock to make a traditional British soup called London Particular, named after the thick ‘pea souper’ fogs that London used to be home to.
