Pulses....... so uninspiring

Herbs and spices! I agree they can be bland on their own, so they need to be jazzed up with lots of flavouring. Harissa spice mix is great, and celery salt, Ras el Hanout mix, or Worcester sauce. I could go on! Cook up a mix of beans and lentils and make them into a bolognese style sauce with tomatoes and lots of flavouring. My daughter, a vegetarian, loves this.
They're also good made into veggie burgers, with lots of spices, bulgar wheat, quinoa flakes and an egg to bind it all together.

I love green lentils in a chicken tagine with squash and preserved lemons. Add some spices such as cumin and any veg available and it's just yummy.

A ham & veg casserole with red lentils is also a favourite. Use cider as stock for some extra pizazz. Serve with jacket potatoes or fresh bread.

I add butter beans and harissa spice to vegetable hot pot. I always keep a stock of tinned pulses in the cupboard as I've given up on the dried ones other than leaving them in jars on shelves because they look nice.

I feel inspired!

Cari you’re not supposed to be posting on threads. Haven’t you got any work to do? ?

merlot, what do you put in your vegetable hot pot to introduce flavour and texture please?

oldbatty, I like a good mix of root vegetable like swede, turnip and carrot with celery, garlic and onion. I usually put it all in the slow cooker with a carton of passata and a veggie stock cube - an added dash of white wine perks up the flavour. Towards the end I add chopped mushrooms and half a can of whatever pules I'm using.

Stick it all in a casserole dish, top with par-boiled sliced potatoes and bake.

Any leftovers go in the next day's soup.

Baked beans in tomato sauce - just joking. But they're my husband's favourite.
I make a kind of dhal too, with red lentils. Sometimes with some sliced and pre-fried aubergine, courgette and red pepper.
Pease pudding made with dried green peas.

I slow cook a ham hock with whole peppercorns and bay leaves until it's falling apart. Carefully strain, putting aside the liquid to cool.
Finely shred the meat off the ham hock and keep. Dispose of bones, gristly bits and herbs.
When the liquid is cold, skim any fat off the top, add 500g of dried green lentils or split peas, plus the shredded meat and a finely chopped onion. Add more water if necessary, bring to the boil and cook slowly until the pulses are cooked.
When it's cooled slightly, attack it with a hand blender or a potato masher so that it's mushed up but still has a few lumpy bits in it.
To serve, reheat and serve with crusty bread and a swirl of cream if you like it.

Scribbles.....drool

They are a traditional dish here in the South of Germany, too. Served on their own, or as a thick soup, they are usually spiced with vinegar (red wine vinegar for example, malt vinegar is unknown here).

Also they are lovely as a salad - just tip them out of the tin and mix with whatever you fancy.

I used to also germinate them (lentils, peas, chick peas, anything) and add them to a salad for a fresh, nutty taste. Needs some preparation: wash them and soak them overnight. Then strain them and leave them in the sieve on the window sill where they might get some sun. Cover them with cling film or muslin, rinse them daily and after 3-4 days they should start to produce shoots. The taste is reminiscent of the raw peas you nibble when shelling peas from their pods.

Forgot to mention that the only kind available here are the brown ones. Specialist shops do stock the small red ones for dhal, but otherwise there is no choice.

PESTO - I fry up onion and garlic, then add celery and any veg going with some Marigold stock and red lentils. Just before it's cooked I add a couple of spoons of pesto. It really adds a different flavour.

This is nice as a veggie shepherds pie base, with mash or cauli mash. Also nice with chunks of feta on it.

JackyB I do wish malt vinegar was unknown here.... Why can't pubs and restaurants put olive oil and balsamic on the table instead? Grr....

I made runner bean falafel at the weekend, and they were delicious!

The idea only occurred to me when the DGC were here last week.
I had left a heap of long, stringy pods on the earth in the garden, intending to compost them. However, the DGC started peeling them open, and the enclosed beans were so large and meaty-looking that it seemed a huge waste not to eat them. (And extracting the beans kept the kids occupied for well over 30 mins, which was an added bonus!)
After boiling for approx. 12 mins, the beans were ready to be zapped in the food processor along with all the other ingredients prior to dipping in egg, coating in flour then frying.

I served them with salad in pitta bread.

Other beans that i have tried in the past- borlotti beans, kidney beans and chickpeas - have all worked equally well

I use lentils and beans as part of the mixture for my (very popular with the family) vegetarian lasagne. I make a basic ratatouille, add lentils and/or cannelini beans, layer it with roast butternut roughed up in chunks, lasagne sheets and the usual cheese sauce. Just lately, instead of roast butternut, and when I'm lazy, I add a layer of ready mashed fresh carrot and parsnip mash bought from the supermarket.

Very yummy.

I've just remembered a Greek dish Fasolada.

I love pulses Black eye peas are my favourites with chick peas, green red lentils, butter beans I prefer them to meat although I m not fully vegetarian
One thing I do is buy a cheap tub of chicken livers 50p a tub and cook with chickpeas then swish up in the processor with salt pepper and what ever spice I have around yummy

I really like pulses but they don't like me very much. They certainly keep my digestion on the move, if you get my drift. And don't mention my DH and kidney beans!

"They certainly keep my digestion on the move,"
That's another reason I like them (the 'transit').
We're going more onto a non-meat diet, although the alternative involves more imagination and work. ie you can make a meat based dish last for a few days, with variations.
But not pulse-based.
Unless there are suggestions?