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Old 05-05-2012, 21:19
fortytwo
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I feel I should be eating more pulses, particularly using them as a side dish. With the price of fresh veg I've stopped buying it unless I have actually planned a meal(s) using it. Pulses on the other hand can be dried or tinned and are much more long lasting in the cupboard.

So has anyone got any favourite side dishes using pulses, nice simple ones if possible, and using herbs and spices most of us have in our kitchens?
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Old 05-05-2012, 23:10
pastanutty
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if you've got some chick peas try making some falafels with some yogurt and mint dip
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Old 06-05-2012, 14:51
degsyhufc
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I made a nice chickpea and aubergine curry the other week.

Also try a mixed bean chilli
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Old 06-05-2012, 18:11
gemma-the-husky
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lentils are easy to use, and good with curries
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Old 07-05-2012, 02:20
jazzyjazzy
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I make variations of this -

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4...et-potato-mash


Lentil shepherds pie - but put spices and garlic in it - change the spices and add chilli etc or what ever you fancy. Top with ordinary mash or mixed veg mash - endless choices.
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Old 07-05-2012, 03:24
farmhand
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So many I hardly know where to start....

Excellent Spanish way with chick peas, simply done in olive oil, tomatos and onions.

Green/ brown/Puy lentils with lemon make a classic side dish or salad...upgrade with wine, thyme and pimento.

Pasta e fagioli is one of my staples, highly recommended... as is any Tuscan bean dish. They are famed for good, simple bean dishes.

I eat a lot of rice and peas and dahl is certainly up there with my all-time favourite dishes of any kind (imo dahl is by far the best pulse dish.)

Don't forget top-class restaurants serve bean purees all the time, (useful because bean skins are a little fibrous, chewy and bland) and you can also "refry" them Mexican-style, which is simply mashed beans served on the side like we serve mashed potato. (Black beans are far superior to red kidney imho so I rarely eat the latter nowadays.) A simple way with these is just open a tin of black beans, drain and mix in a bit of fried garlic and fresh coriander. These are commonly eaten for breakfast in Venezuela with eggs and arepas. Delicious!

Some pulses are best fresh, not dried and reconstituted, such as broad beans (shelled if you can be bothered). So don't neglect the range of dishes with fresh pulses… like the Arab combos with Fava (broad) beans and artichoke. Weirdly, only broad beans and the trendy soy beans in restaurants seem to be served fresh, but I know from eating my own ones that they are mostly all tasty fresh and even raw. Yet though I have been eating pulses regularly for years and growing my own, I still have no clue what a fresh chick pea or kidney bean or black eye pea even looks like??????

Still on the fresh tip, I use a lot of pulses in all kinds of salads. A hefty salad can be more than enough on the side.

Last but by no means least, there is no end of awesome pulse ideas in vegetarian cooking. From simple classics like the cheese and lentil loaf through to the elaborate kofta curries and fancy Cranks and Ottolenghi type stuff.

Which reminds me, if you like curry Indian food has much of the most dazzling and delicious of all pulse cooking and takes it into a different dimension. Gram flour is chick pea flour, for example, so things like Bombay Mix are most all pulse. Yum. My favourite pulse dish after dahl is wadii, which are soaked lentils mixed with a few curry leaves and chillies and then made into balls and deep fried. Mind-blowing stuff...but I think I'm starting to babble....

I’ll only put up the recipe if you actually want to try one of them.
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Old 07-05-2012, 07:58
Utopian Girl
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A simple home made carrot soup with a can of drained butterbeans is lovely - I've got some made to take out today. Pulses/legumes are great and the tinned ones can easily be added to casseroles & salads or again blitz some cooked butterbeans and either eat as a 'mash' or mix in & mash with potatoes. Lots of dips can be made quickly too frijolelmole - can be found on many food websites.
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Old 07-05-2012, 10:18
Gaditano
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Madhur Jaffrey has a great recipe which mixes chana dal (yellow split pease) with cooked basmati rice and lots of dill. Delicious.
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Old 07-05-2012, 18:07
degsyhufc
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Saw this cannellini bean salad the other day and it looked nice
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/650373

This also popped up while I was searching for the other dish
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/647500
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Old 07-05-2012, 22:15
fortytwo
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So many I hardly know where to start....

Excellent Spanish way with chick peas, simply done in olive oil, tomatos and onions.

Green/ brown/Puy lentils with lemon make a classic side dish or salad...upgrade with wine, thyme and pimento.

Pasta e fagioli is one of my staples, highly recommended... as is any Tuscan bean dish. They are famed for good, simple bean dishes.

I eat a lot of rice and peas and dahl is certainly up there with my all-time favourite dishes of any kind (imo dahl is by far the best pulse dish.)

Don't forget top-class restaurants serve bean purees all the time, (useful because bean skins are a little fibrous, chewy and bland) and you can also "refry" them Mexican-style, which is simply mashed beans served on the side like we serve mashed potato. (Black beans are far superior to red kidney imho so I rarely eat the latter nowadays.) A simple way with these is just open a tin of black beans, drain and mix in a bit of fried garlic and fresh coriander. These are commonly eaten for breakfast in Venezuela with eggs and arepas. Delicious!

Some pulses are best fresh, not dried and reconstituted, such as broad beans (shelled if you can be bothered). So don't neglect the range of dishes with fresh pulses… like the Arab combos with Fava (broad) beans and artichoke. Weirdly, only broad beans and the trendy soy beans in restaurants seem to be served fresh, but I know from eating my own ones that they are mostly all tasty fresh and even raw. Yet though I have been eating pulses regularly for years and growing my own, I still have no clue what a fresh chick pea or kidney bean or black eye pea even looks like??????

Still on the fresh tip, I use a lot of pulses in all kinds of salads. A hefty salad can be more than enough on the side.

Last but by no means least, there is no end of awesome pulse ideas in vegetarian cooking. From simple classics like the cheese and lentil loaf through to the elaborate kofta curries and fancy Cranks and Ottolenghi type stuff.

Which reminds me, if you like curry Indian food has much of the most dazzling and delicious of all pulse cooking and takes it into a different dimension. Gram flour is chick pea flour, for example, so things like Bombay Mix are most all pulse. Yum. My favourite pulse dish after dahl is wadii, which are soaked lentils mixed with a few curry leaves and chillies and then made into balls and deep fried. Mind-blowing stuff...but I think I'm starting to babble....

I’ll only put up the recipe if you actually want to try one of them.
Thanks for the replies, especially the three first ideas in the one quoted one above.

I don't think my op was very well worded because what I was interested in was not pulses as a main course but for example, something that could be part of what we had for dinner this evening.

It was chicken with new potatoes and I thought some beans, haricot or cannellini perhaps would have been ok but would have needed a sauce/ gravy.

As already mentioned there are loads of vegetarian recipes involving pulses out there but its pulses as an accompaniment I was after.
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Old 07-05-2012, 22:21
fortytwo
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Saw this cannellini bean salad the other day and it looked nice
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/650373

This also popped up while I was searching for the other dish
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/647500
Thanks, that second one looks good.
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Old 08-05-2012, 11:09
grassmarket
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The simplest possible lentil curry.

Red lentils. Water. Cumin powder. Turmeric. Salt. Boil for 30 minutes.

Optional variation at the end.

Finely slice onion. Chili. Garlic. Oil. Fry. Stir in.
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Old 08-05-2012, 11:13
grassmarket
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Don't forget top-class restaurants serve bean purees all the time, (useful because bean skins are a little fibrous, chewy and bland) and you can also "refry" them Mexican-style, which is simply mashed beans served on the side like we serve mashed potato. (Black beans are far superior to red kidney imho so I rarely eat the latter nowadays.)
For mexican stuff I prefer pinto beans to either - 2 hours soaking, 1 hour boiling, ready to go.
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Old 08-05-2012, 13:44
jojo01
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OP, I make this recipe and add a tin of butter beans or cannelini beans to it at the end and warm through: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5...peas-and-bacon

I use the pulses in place of carbs so don't serve it with potatoes or pasta (though that would be lovely!)
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