Pulses....... so uninspiring

Just had half an aubergine stuffed with lentils, tomatoes and garlic for dinner with potato wedges and stir fried veg.. Delicious, but I'll try not to breathe near anyone else for a while.

I meant to say - bake in a not too hot oven for 10 to 15 minutes!!!

Drain a can of chickpeas, rinse, pat dry. Lay them on a baking sheet and spray over some of that oil spray stuff (can't think what it's called ......!). They make a lovely nibbly snack - a bit like peanuts. You can flavour them with whatever you like - just salt, or paprika, curry powder, etc etc

Rose Elliot's "The Bean Book" is a brilliant guide to pulses and how to use them. It's a vegetarian book, though, and doesn't explore the uses of pulses in combination with meats.

wow some great ideas. Pulses are my friends!

A nice soup -
A tin of butter beans, tin of tomatoes, juice of a lemon, s&p.
Simmer for 15 mins or so then liquidise.

They can be utterly delicious. My suggestion is, look up recipes online. There is a huge variety. I like the middle-eastern ones best, usually. Or borrow a couple of vegetarian cook books from the library. I love the green and brown lentils particularly, though I do avoid recipes with long lists of ingredients.

I love Aduki beans - they are full of healthy antioxidants and minerals and make a great cottage pie base mixed with onions, carrots and mushrooms. I usually top with a mixture of plain and sweet potato mash, and a grated cheese and breadcrumb topping if I have visitors.
If you want to ease up on meat, you can experiment with going half and half with pulses - almost anything goes with mince, lentils go well with chicken, chick peas in a spicy red sauce goes well with white fish etc. lentils and black eyed beans go well in rice dishes too. If you keep a variety of tinned pulses handy, you can knock up a spaghetti or Chile con Carne dish in less than half an hour.

Yes, its those tasty little extras that elevate the dish.

Don't you be casting nasturtiums on my recipes batty

Any one-dish recipe could be gloopy but it's how you present it that matters! Canned beans are surprisingly sturdy and don't turn to mush.

A nice sprinkling of chopped coriander, and side dishes of yoghurt, lime pickle etc. A vegetarian feast!

I have no wish to add nasturtiums on your cooking River....but don't you just end up with a beany gloop?

Mind you, I could see it working with Naan.

A very easy slow-cooker recipe using the larder & freezer:

1 can chickpeas, drained
1 can cannellini beans, drained
Bag of frozen spinach
Packet of frozen onions, or soffrito
1/2 jar Patak's spice paste
Big squeeze tomato puree

Result is a lovely, thick & very tasty vegetarian curry - serve with a big dollop of thick minted yoghurt, and various other tasty bits and bobs!

Get some really big tasty sausages from a butcher or farm shop.

Fry an onion with a finely chopped rasher or two of smoked bacon (also from a butcher or farm shop), add a tin of lentils, beef stock cube and a dash of red wine. Cook sausages, place on lentil mix for a couple of minutes then serve with a green vegetable. Delicious!

I also toss in a tin of lentils when cooking anything based on mince. It makes the mince go further, reduces the amount of meat you are consuming and has little or no effect on taste or texture. I use tins of mixed beans to bulk out a meat stew for the same reason.

Then there is cassoulet..........................heaven on earth.

Fennel I freeze lentil and bean dishes in the same way I freeze a meat dish

"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?

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!

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've just remembered a Greek dish Fasolada.

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 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

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....

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.

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.

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.