5 delicious, original and nutritious recipes with legumes

They are the healthiest proteins, with a world of benefits and possibilities: creams, pâtés, stews… We show you new ways to bring variety to your table.

Legumes are our main source of proteins of vegetable origin and, in addition, they have multiple properties thanks to their high content of fiber, minerals such as potassium, iron, magnesium and phosphorus and vitamins of group B.

However, the consumption of legumes has decreased in recent years, and we have a great culinary culture around them: from a good chickpea stew, a traditional fabada or a classic rice dish with lentils.

DISCOVER NEW WAYS TO PREPARE LEGUMES

We may feel the need today to reinvent legumes. Luckily, we have many national varieties at our disposal (it is always important to know the origin of what we eat), as well as foreign varieties, sometimes not so well known, such as dhal lentils, also called skinless red lentils, or mung beans, known as green soybeans. They are new sources of protein that can perfectly complement our day-to-day diet.

With hot or cold preparations, in their most classic versions or with a different touch, such as the dishes we propose in this article, you can enjoy legumes throughout the year. Stew, sautéed, salads, creams, pâtés, and a long etcetera of creative elaborations assure us pleasure and variety.

SOAKING AND COOKING OF LEGUMES

The ideal is to soak with cold mineral water, but how many hours should we soak legumes? It can be between 4 and 12 hours, depending on the size of the legume.

As a rule, an overnight soaking (about 8 hours) is recommended. But we also have to know that some lentils, such as pardina, do not need soaking. It is best to take into account the indications that appear on the package.

And for cooking? If we wanted to cook the legumes alone, with water and a pinch of salt, the time will depend again on the type of legume: lentils or beans can be ready in about 45 minutes, and chickpeas, in an hour, approximately.

You can use the pressure cooker to reduce these cooking times by a third, but you will also lose the textures and can even burst the skins of the legumes, so it is not highly recommended to use it regularly.

HOW TO MAKE LEGUMES TO THE POINT

A good trick is to add the salt in the last minutes of cooking, so we will obtain thinner and more tender skins.

If you need to add more water while you are cooking them, you should make sure it is hot. Except when they are beans or green soybeans, in which case it is better to add it cold.

We can cook a large number of legumes and store them for days in the refrigerator. To keep them in perfect condition, the ideal is to cut the cooking with cold water a few minutes before their completion and store the legumes in jars or glass containers with lids. So, we will have them almost ready to prepare the different recipes throughout the week.

5 ORIGINAL AND TASTY RECIPES WITH LEGUMES

MUNG BEAN CREAM WITH VEGETABLES AND SPROUTS

Ingredients:

• 400 g mung bean
• 200 g peas
• 3 carrots
• 300 g broccoli
• 200 g zucchini
• 1 onion
• 3 bay leaves
• Broccoli sprouts
• 1.5 l water
• virgin olive oil
• salt

Preparation:

1. Peel the carrots and cut them into medium pieces. Do the same with the rest of the vegetables. Then mash them all together with virgin olive oil and salt.
2. Add the mung beans, bay leaf and water. Let it boil for about 50 minutes.
3. Once the legumes are cooked, remove the bay leaf and crush everything until you get a fine cream.
4. Silver in a bowl and decorate the cream with a good splash of raw oil and some broccoli sprouts.

FRESH LIMP OF BEANS

Ingredients:

• 500 g tender beans
• 8 wild asparagus
• 1 thick pink tomato
• 4 piquillo peppers
• a handful of mint leaves (some for processing and others to decorate the final plating)
• edible flowers
• extra virgin olive oil
• Ground colored peppers
• salt
• water

Preparation:

1. Start shelling the beans. Discard the pods and cook the beans for about 15 minutes with plenty of water and salt. Drain and set aside in a large bowl.
2. Cut the asparagus into small pieces and sauté them in a pan with a good drizzle of olive oil and salt. Add them with the already cooked beans.
3. Wash and chop the pink tomato into cubes. Cut the piquillo peppers also into small pieces and chop much of the mint leaves. Reserve a few to decorate.
4. Put all the ingredients in the bowl and season them with virgin olive oil, salt and ground peppers. Mix everything up right.
5. With the help of a metal ring silver the mixture to form the timpani. Decorate it with the remaining mint leaves and edible flowers, such as violets or carnation petals.

COLORFUL HUMMUS

Ingredients:

• 900 g precooked chickpeas
• 1 cooked beetroot
• 200 g peas
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 tsp. of hot paprika
• 3 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt

Preparation:

1. Start boiling the peas for a few minutes, drain them and set them aside.
2. Separate cooked chickpeas equally into three different containers; In each one add a clove of peeled and chopped garlic, a pinch of salt, a good splash of olive oil, a teaspoon of paprika and another of cumin.
3. In one of the containers add the peas, in another the cooked beetroot and leave the third container as is.
4. Grind the three mixtures separately, until a uniform texture is obtained.
5. Peel the carrots and cut them into small strips, just like celery. They will serve to accompany the hummus with them.
6. To serve, with a sacabolas you can put three balls, one of each hummus, in each dish.
7. If you serve them in bowls to share, you can decorate with cumin grain the traditional hummus, with chives the beet and with radish sprouts the pea hummus.

DHAL LENTIL STEW

Ingredients:

• 500 g red lentils
• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 5 carrots
• 2 large onions
• 1 large red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 piece of fresh ginger
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 teaspoons curry
• 1.5 l vegetable broth
• 300 ml coconut milk
• extra virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste and salt
• some fresh cilantro to decorate

Preparation:

1. Grate the tomatoes and peel and chop the carrots and onions. Cut all the other vegetables into small pieces and peel and chop the two cloves of garlic as well.
2. Add plenty of olive oil in a pot to fry the garlic and onion. Then add the grated tomato and finally sauté the rest of the vegetables.
3. Once the vegetables are poached, add the red lentils, spices and vegetable broth. Let it boil for about 35 minutes, over medium heat.
4. Check the cooking point and add the coconut milk. Cook it for a couple more minutes and then let it rest to integrate the flavors.
5. At serving time, chop the fresh cilantro to add it to the final plating.

TEXTURED BEAN AND SOY TACOS

Ingredients for the pâté:

• 200 g dried tomato
• 80 g walnuts
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• extra virgin olive oil
• a pinch of salt
• water for soaking

Other ingredients:

• 8 gluten-free corn tortillas
• 500 g cooked red bean
• 150 g fine textured soy
• 3 tablespoons paprika
• Spicy powder
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 200 g vegan coconut cheese
• half onion
• half red pepper
• lettuce
• extra virgin olive oil
• a pinch of salt
• cilantro and radish sprouts to decorate

Preparation:

1. A few hours before preparation put the dried tomatoes to soak.
2. Once softened, crush them along with the rest of the ingredients of the pâté until a dense and aromatic texture is obtained; Book them.
3. Bring the textured soy to a boil along with the hot paprika, oregano, salt and a good splash of olive oil. Let it drain and set it aside.
4. Brown the corn tortillas a little and sauté the soy along with the beans.
5. At the end, add the vegan cheese.
6. Cut the onion and pepper into strips and sauté them with a pinch of salt and oil.
7. At the time of plating, spread the tortillas with the dried tomato paste and spread over some small lettuce leaves.
8. Add the sautéed beans and soybeans, and on top the onion and pepper. Garnish with chopped cilantro and radish sprouts.