Legumes - Dried chickpeas, dried lentils, dried beans

[Toomessy]

When I say dried I mean not the canned ones that are precooked.

I have noticed that British people don't know what to do and how to cook dried legumes in casserole dishes rather than boil them.

Whoever ask if and how they cook them the either respond that they don't cook them or they just boil them. Their legume diet go as far as canned beans which full of sugar and preservatives or hummus.

I come from a country where legumes are a big part of our diet and as a kid I used to have legumes casserole once a week either in the pot or in the oven.

Am I right or have I just spoken to a small percentage of people and British enjoy casserole legumes?

As a child, my mother always put pearl barley in stews. (I am not sure technically what pearl barley is). She also used to make lentil and vegetable soup regularly!

I put 25% of lentils instead of mince in shepherds pie, spaghetti bol, lasagna, etc; or occasionally just green lentils spaghetti bol. I also love sausages or smoked haddock or a curry with green lentils. I’ll cook chilli con carne with red kidney beans; or cassoulet with various beans. I also do a vegan burger, made with red kidney beans, and some other beans and spices, mashed together - they taste great!

So I wasn’t the only one who wondered if it was constipation making @JackieDaws so tetchy!

Bloody hell, slow day love?

OT but one of the first things my mother cooked as a new wife was lamb stew with pearl barley. She put so many in that in her words 'we could slice it.' Dad ate every scrap without a murmur, apparently.

I did wonder if the foul stench might be a bit closer to home than bean eaters, I have to admit.

Was coming here to say this

My DS is very allergic to all legumes so, no, we don't cook with them.

@Gruelle I love this nut roast - and it has legumes in it too :D agree the ready made stuff is not good

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nut-loaf?utm_source=app

Instant pots are also pressure cooker and I looooove mine. No soaking required

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think legumes have ever been a staple in the Northern European diet.

I imagine that we cook using lentils, chickpeas etc now more we’ve ever done. You’re right though, in that they’re still not a huge part of anyone’s diet.

When people do cook with them, it’s really influenced by the UK’s Asian population. Hence we make dahl, or chickpea curry a lot more than we might make a legume casserole. Southern and med Europe also influences how we cook with beans - blitzed as a hummus, or in a stew/broth alongside meat.

Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?

Not entirely sure what the point in starting this thread is OP?

Are you trying to claim some sort of one up man ship because you use dried Legumes rather than tinned.

Some people in Britain eat Legumes, some people don't, in the same way some people eat meat and some don't.

I agree with the pp who said that dried Legumes used to be used more frequently here in grandma's day as they're cheap and nourishing.

Diets changed and to a great extent they went out of fashion due, I imagine, to meat becoming cheaper.

I used to use dried Legumes when I had my family as they worked best with the recipes I used to make, but all the soaking overnight etc is, frankly, too bothersome for me now I'm on my own and, apart from lentils, I'll use tinned Legumes, although I've never come across them with any sugar or additives in them; no idea where you've seen those.

I not only cook with them regularly (had some less than 2 hours ago) I grow my own, and have grown over 150 different varieties over the years.

Today's were a mix of dwarf beans from Franchi seeds that I'd left to dry on the pods, and cooked before freezing. From about 50 plants I have enough to last around 24 servings of either chilli, or rice and beans which is what we had today. I also grew the chillis, the peppers, the onions, the garlic, the tomatillos, the tomatoes and the garlic used in today's food. So only oil, cumin seed, salt and rice were bought. Hope that helps.

Legume casserole sounds fartastic*

I haven't got time or inclination to be soaking beans or simmering them or whatever I'm meant to be doing. Tins are perfectly fine and a good healthy convenient option.

*Not a typo

@Toomessy where are your fantastic legumes recipes?
I came here in the hope you have a trick up your sleeve to avoid the pre soaking and cooking... We have all kinds of beans & chickpeas. I prefer dried to tin as they taste so much better (and are cheaper to buy...) So please enlighten me!

|Pease pudding
parched peas
mushy peas

I think legumes are really normal - chickpeas, kidney beans, canellini beans, butter beans etc etc. But I would tend to buy canned in water as it’s quicker. No preservatives or sugar.

Storage space is limited in my kitchen, so I buy dried beans and lentils rather than tinned and cook them in the instant pot. I normally soak them first, although most instant pot recipies say you don't need to bother, but I enjoy the magic of putting a few scoops of beans into a pan, filling it with cold water and lifting the lid the next day to see how much of the water has now been displaced by beans.
It's a shame that the choice of dried beans is so limited in most supermarkets, I suppose they make more profit selling beans in tins, cartons and microwavable pouches. So I tend to do a bulk order from hodmedods.co.uk/collections/pulses-grains-seeds or www.realfoods.co.uk/shop/food-cupboard/flours,-grains,-pulses-and-cereals/pulses every now and again, and decant the packets into 1L lock and lock containers that fit on the pull out shelves in the food cupboard.

I didn't realise people could get so uptight about beans. Gosh.

I cook with canned beans all the time and they don't have sugar in. Same with chickpeas. Baked beans have sugar in. I assume that's where the snottery came from.

I do use dried lentils though. Rarely canned.

I won't be angry with anyone who doesn't though.

Does the OP mean canned beans = baked beans ?

Craving gigantes now. Thread made me hungry beyond belief!

I didn't realise people could get so uptight about beans. Gosh

I've seen some odd forms of one upmanship but 'I grew up eating legume casseroles once a week, the British don't know what to do with legumes' is the oddest.

You're wrong. Lentil soup is a Scottish staple, my Granny and my Mum made it often and I make it now too.

Also Scotch Broth with barley and pea soup made with split peas.

Not so popular in England.

I wonder what French people call legumes?

I grew up eating lentils and split peas but they were never called legumes at home. I first learned the word in French class as meaning "vegetables".

Pea & ham is very popular but I bloody love a lentil & bacon soup.

I've just been reading a chickpea & chorizo recipe that I'm going to do for a gathering too.

I think OP has met the wrong people!