Full of beans: here’s why you should add pulses to more than cholent and hummus

Previously they were considered poor-man’s food and very little was invested in their farming. But now we seem to have a lot more choice and the good ones are pleasingly plump, soft-skinned and flavourful.

All of which led me to write a book of recipes using pulses, and I learned a few helpful tips along the way:

1. Don’t be afraid to jar:

There are a lot of different pulse options out there. I am rarely organised enough to soak dried pulses so tend to stick to cans and jars. Having tasted a lot, the quality (and price) can vary a lot, so you need to find what suits you. If you are willing to splash out a bit, then in general I would say jarred varieties are better than canned, and brands like Bold Bean Co, Brindisa or Belazu are as good as it gets.

2. Meat up:

You do not have to be vegetarian to enjoy pulses. Many people assume a cookbook about pulses is completely plant-based. Far from it. We should all be eating more pulses and my ethos has always been “a little less meat, a little more pulse”. For instance, in a traybake, I’ll add one chicken thigh per person, rather than two, plus a can of chickpeas. Or pair with butter beans, lemons and olives like in this easy recipe.

Add pulses to other proteins like salmon Photo: Mowie Kay[Missing Credit]

3. Mix and match:

As a sweeping generalisation, I would say most pulses are mild in flavour and quick and easy to cook (if using pre-cooked varieties). They’re great for bulking up soups, stews and curries, or can be thrown into roasting tin dishes towards the end of cooking and will blend with whatever flavours are going on. You can often use different varieties interchangeably in recipes too (eg swapping cannellini beans for butter beans, or puy lentils for beluga lentils).

4. Make them multitask

There are tons of ways to cook pulses. Hummus is the classic blended chickpea dip, but you can blend most pulses to make delicious dips (there’s a fabulous split yellow pea dip in my book). They can be roasted with oil to give them a crunch, or I often fry tinned lentils in olive oil with crushed garlic before using them in a salad. You can even use beans in sweet dishes, like the kidney bean cookie recipe here.

Don't save the beans for savoury - they're perfect for chewy cookies Photo: Mowie Kay[Missing Credit]

5. Take care with your liquid asset:

When pulses come in jars and cans they are usually stored in a liquid, which is called aquafaba. It’s quite fashionable now to use this liquid in recipes, and it can certainly be great for adding creaminess to savoury dishes or can be used as an egg alternative in sweets. Do have a quick read of the ingredients list before you use it though. If it’s just water and salt, then it’s fine, though do taste how salty it is before adding. However, some brands (often lower-cost ones) will add preserving and firming agents to the water, which you’re probably better off avoiding.

Eleanor is the author of Pulse (Ryland Peters Small) £20