Any recipes for using dried beans and lentils?

Try Pinterest.

See if you can track down a copy of Rose Elliot’s book ‘Beanfeast’. It’s the best recipe book ever for legumes. I doubt it’s still in print, but I’m guessing AbeBooks may have secondhand copies at a reasonable price.

I would check the labels when looking for Asafoetida. The one labeled as such in Asda has only 10% Asafoetida.

Some good and tasty recipes I might be testing.

This recipe is very nice, I've made it several times and doing again at the weekend.
www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/veggie-shepherds-pie-sweet-potato-mash/amp

I forgot! A very small quantity of water. I did lift the lid and stir as lentils can stick to the bottom if too dry.

Me too. I am reducing meat. i made a red lentil curry in the slow cooker. I was very lazy and just put all the ingredients in at once.

Red lentils, chopped onion, chopped carrots, good quality curry paste in a jar, veg Oxo, olive oil, broccoli, chopped desert apple. Mix it all up and adjust for flavour,

4 hours slow cooker on high. For some reason it tastes even better next day.

Serve with basmati rice.

1 Butternut Squash

1 x 400g tin Sweet Harvest Chickpeas

1 large mild Onion

1 Courgette

2 Peppers

3 cloves Garlic

1 x 400g Sweet Harvest Chopped Tomatoes

1 x 400g tin Asia Coconut Milk

1 heaped tsp Stonemill Turmeric

1 heaped tsp Stonemill Chilli Powder

1 heaped tsp Stonemill Ground Cumin

1 tsp Stonemill Ground Ginger

½ tsp Stonemill Cinnamon

500g Everyday Essentials Rice

1 pack Asia Poppadoms

Sea Salt and Black Pepper

30ml British Rapeseed Oil


Method

Peel and chop the onion. Peel and remove any seeds from the butternut squash, then cut into chunks.

Cut the peppers in half, remove any seeds and white pith, then cut into chunks. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Cut the courgette in quarters lengthways, then chop.

In a large saucepan, add the oil and fry the onions for about 3 minutes.

Then add the chopped garlic, cumin, ginger, turmeric, chilli and cinnamon and fry on a low heat for a couple of minutes to release the flavours.

Add the chopped tomatoes and coconut milk, season with some salt and plenty of black pepper.

Add the butternut squash, drained chickpeas, peppers and courgette.

Cook for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile, cook the rice as per instructions on the pack and serve alongside bowls of curry and poppadoms.

I like these from the BBC Good Food website. They both have a 5-star average rating

Golden veggie shepherd’s pie
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/golden-veggie-shepherds-pie

Spicy root and lentil casserole
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spicy-root-lentil-casserole

Spaghetti with aubergine and kidney beans

This is one I wrote out in detail for a student. I use an Instant Pot but obviously you can cook the beans how you like.

Ingredients

5 tablespoons olive oil
1 aubergine, large
125g chestnut mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
100g dried kidney beans (or 1 tin)
250g spaghetti

Directions

Soak kidney beans for 24 hours, rinse, place in Instant Pot with enough water to cover them plus a bit more. Cook on Beans setting, High pressure, for 90 minutes. Drain.

1. Wash the aubergine and mushrooms (if using mushrooms).
Cut the aubergine into slices roughly 2 cm thick, then into dice roughly 2 cm each side.
Slice the mushrooms.
Peel and crush the garlic.

2. Heat the olive oil. Fry the aubergine pieces for about 5 minutes, turning as needed. Add more oil if needed.

3. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring quite often. (Meanwhile heat water for spaghetti.)

3. Cook the spaghetti according to instructions. Drain.

4. Meanwhile, add the kidney beans to the vegetables and heat through. Add salt and pepper according to taste.

5. Add the aubergine and kidney bean mix to the spaghetti and stir through (or put the spaghetti on a plate in a ring and the mixture in the centre).

The aubergine and kidney bean mix can be served with a baked potato instead of spaghetti.

Serve with salad or cabbage.

Thank you very much for the Sarah Brown book recommendation, my 'The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook' book has just arrived. Fantastic book, it has descriptions and photos of everything, I got one for my daughter too. My food budget is much reduced with my additional energy costs, I'm looking forward to cooking cheaper meals.

I went to Sainsbury's for the asofoetida - also with turmeric. There are some varieties on Amazon with rice flour, various prices.

Tescos sell it but it’s with turmeric which DH is avoiding. I assume you can buy it in it’s own. How much do you use; just a tiny pinch?

Thanks for the tip about asafoetida.
I've just thought of another one - pease pudding. Made with yellow split peas.

Fully agree with Phillipa - a pinch of asafoetida with lentil/mixed vegetable curry (aka Sambhar). Lentils are notorious for causing an upset stomach, bloating etc. I know . Went to visit my supercook s.I.l. in the hills of Portugal. She made us a lentil curry - obviously, she couldn’t get asofaetida. in the local shops. We paid the price. Worst case of indigestion I’ve ever had - she was not too bad ? Btw, the red lentils are the worst culprits.

Thank you for the info on asafoetida Phillipa and using fennel,aniseed etc Gongoozler. I've recently found that lentils and chick peas (both of which I love) have started to disagree with me.
By coincidence, I saw asafoetida in Asda today while looking for harissa and wondered what it was used for!

Apparently it is in this book, Vegetarian Kitchen, by Sarah Brown. Published 1984.

www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B001IZ13H0?node=492564011&offset=0&_encoding=UTF8&pageSize=12&searchAlias=stripbooks&sort=author-sidecar-rank&page=1&tag=gransnetforum-21&langFilter=default#formatSelectorHeader

I've just googled for the Red Dragon Pie recipe, it is on the Shoestring Cottage website.

"Red Dragon Pie
Serves 4

Ingredients
110g aduki beans, steeped in boiling water for an hour then cooked until soft. (Or a 400g can aduki beans, drained)

50g cooked rice

1 tbsp oil

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

225g carrots, diced

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp mixed herbs

Half a pint of vegetable stock or the reserved liquid from the cooked aduki beans

Salt and pepper

450g potatoes, peeled and chopped

25g butter/vegan spread

Method
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C.

Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion for 5 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the cooked beans and rice. Mix the soy sauce, tomato puree and herbs with the stock, then pour over the beans and vegetables. Season to taste, adding a little more liquid if necessary. Transfer to a greased 1.5 litre casserole dish.

Meanwhile, boil the potatoes until cooked and mash with the butter. Season well and top your bean mixture. Bake in the oven for around 40 minutes until the top has browned.

For more frugal recipes we enjoy, see my Frugal Recipes page. No red dragons were injured in the making of this dish."

I make soup with either tinned lentils, Puy, brown red or green. The ones that hold their shape take a little longer to cook. Really delicious in any form. Particularly good if you wish to reduce meat intake and I think the ones that mash down are a good choice for bolognaise, shepherd's pie or casseroled meat. Butter beans are delicious too I agree 25Avalon. On odd occasions when I allow myself to eat sausages, I add butter beans to them in a mixed casserole. Now I'm hungry again.

Thanks for reminding me of red dragon pie BigBertha. I have a copy of Sarah Brown’s book in the kitchen. She recommends caraway, fennel and aniseed as well as asafoetida for coping with indigestion.
BigBertha I have found World of Books (WOB) online useful for getting hold of old books. Might be worth a try?

Fennel you can use sausages instead. I did one the other night using tinned butter beans, onions, tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, garlic purée, paprika, and herbs. It only took 30 minutes from start to finish in an ordinary saucepan on the hob so a great fuel saver as well.

GagaJo. The lentils for the soup, do you mean red lentils which mash down when cooked or the ones which hold their shape such as Puy lentils? I love simple recipes like that and intend to try it.

I think it was Sarah Brown BigBertha From her Vegetarian Kitchen cook book.
Prue Leith and her niece also do a good version.

Dhal

I used to make Red Dragon Pie a kind of Shepherds Pie with beans but I can't find the book I had. I think it was Sarah Green. The deal in that book was lovely too...wish I could find a copy.

This recipe for Southern cheesy lentils is a favourite in our house. It is infinitely adaptable to taste or will use up what is lurking in your fridge, and is really quick and easy in the pressure cooker:

1 red onion finely chopped
1 red pepper finely chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped

(I sometimes use a bag of frozen Mediterranean vegetables instead of the above - just put them in frozen - or you could use any veg that needs to be used)

4 garlic cloves chopped or a squirt of garlic puree
3/4 cup brown rice
3/4 cup brown lentils
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 can chopped tomatoes
chopped jalapeños (I use about half a jar)
1 Tbsp taco seasoning (I use a third of a sachet of Old El Paso and keep the rest for next twice I make the dish)
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt (I leave this out, as the taco seasoning is salty enough)
1/2 tsp Black pepper
2 cups grated cheese I use mozzarella and mature cheddar or Parmesan
1/4 cup chopped fresh handful of fresh coriander for serving

Put everything except the cheese in the pressure cooker for 15 mins then natural release for 15 minutes. Stir in the cheese, and add chopped coriander to serve. That’s it!

The above quantities make a lot! The recipe said 4 portions, but I think it’s more. It will keep for a few days in the fridge if you don’t mind eating the same thing for several meals, you could use smaller cup measures (I use the US ones, but so long as you stick to the ratio of lentils and rice to stock you should be ok to use smaller measures), or it freezes reasonably well.

Philippa111

More about asafoetida from India:

Health experts suggest adding hing to foods that are tough to digest. Let's look at how hing helps in managing stomach problems and how you can use it in your cooking.
Asafoetida is native to Afghanistan and Iran. The components present in hing have anti-bacterial, anti-spasmodic, laxative, anti-flatulent, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties that help deal with problems like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), flatulence and an upset stomach. Many people like adding it in foods like beans and pulses that are generally tough to digest.

Thanks for that. I’d never heard of it but I’m definitely going to get some.

My mums lentil soup.

Tin tomatoes.
Lentils.
2 stalks celery.
1 or 2 onions.
Curry powder
Paprika
Cumin

Saute onions & celery.
Add to the tin of tomatoes and lentils.
Add water.
Cook until the consistency you like.
Add seasonings AFTER cooking, to make sure you get the combination you prefer.

Very healthy. Great for the digestion.