Amazing legumes

The chickpea – like all other members of the legumes family – offers a lot of proteins, minerals and fibre.  Just one cup of uncooked legumes delivers 14 to 20 grams of fibre, more than whole wheat. Nutrition experts nowadays recommend to eat at least 25 grams of fibre a day, a huge amount for most people.

Fibre helps to stabilize blood sugar levels, making chickpeas an excellent choice for diabetics and people with insulin resistance or hypoglycaemia. A 2012 study of people with type 2 diabetes has shown that eating one cup of legumes a day for three months lowered blood sugar and blood pressure.

Furthermore, fibre traps bile loaded with cholesterol in the digestive tract and helps bowel movement, preventing digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome. Eating legumes regularly also lowers bad cholesterol levels in the blood.

Legumes provide a wealth of minerals as well. For example chickpeas contain plenty of folic acid, manganese and iron needed for healthy bones and blood production. They contain large amounts of the trace mineral molybdenum that flushes out the preservative sulphite from our bodies.

Legumes are also rich in various antioxidants and phytonutrients. At the moment, scientists continue to discover new varieties of these substances all the time. Antioxidants fight free radicals, atoms that miss an electron in their outer shell. In their search for missing electrons they grab them where they can get them and damaging healthy body cells. Free radicals are a normal by-product of our digestion. Smoking, drinking and pollution increase the amount of free radicals in our bodies. Antioxidants neutralise free radicals by providing them with missing electrons.

Hummus, A Healthy Classic

Dear all,

The other day I received an email with a link to 32 different chickpea recipes ‘to dug me out of my hummus hole’. So far, I had been unaware of the existence of such a hole.

I love hummus and serve it regularly at dinner parties. Often I eat it as a healthy lunch with a little salad and some whole wheat crackers – very refreshing, especially during the current heat wave in India.

Although hummus has lost its exotic factor in the country where we live, many people still ask me for the recipe. Although it is as simple as can be, some manage to get it wrong. I think, the biggest mistake commonly made is to add too much tahini, the sesame paste from Middle East. Although tahini is wonderfully healthy, it has a strange texture. When you eat it by itself, it feels very sticky and tastes slightly bitter. Too much tahini can ruin your hummus.

Of course, you can also add to much lemon and too much garlic, although this is largely a matter of personal taste. One time, I dropped too much pepper powder in my blender. There was no way I could get rid of it, so this one time we had a very peppery hummus – my guests liked it though.

In general, I think we should eat as many legumes as possible. They provide cheap protein in combination with fibre, complex carbohydrates (the good ones) and many minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients.

Legumes are great to keep slim and fit and hummus is the perfect recipe. You can keep it up to one week in the fridge and you can even freeze it. When you open the door of my freezer, you will always find a container with hummus, next to some pasta sauces and homemade pâtés.

Wishing you happy cooking, always!

Kornelia Santoro with family

Hummus - a classic dip

Ingredients:
(for 8 servings)

• 1 cup dried chickpeas
•  2 tablespoons tahini
•  4 tablespoons lemon juice
•  3 tablespoons olive oil
•  2 cloves garlic
•  salt
•  pepper
• ½ cup cooking liquid

Method:

Spread out the beans and check them for small stones, debris and damaged beans. Wash the chickpeas and soak them in plenty of water overnight. The next day, drain the soaked chickpeas, put them into a pot, cover with two litres salt water and boil them until soft.

If you use a pressure cooker, add only one litre of water with the chickpeas and cook for 30 minutes after the first whistle. The chickpeas need to become really soft. Drain the chickpeas, but save half a cup of the liquid.

You can prepare humus either with a blender stick or in a blender. With a blender stick, mash the chickpeas first, and then add the tahini, the lemon juice, the olive oil and the crushed garlic. Combine with some cooking liquid to obtain a smooth paste.

If you use a blender, throw in all the ingredients and blend away. It is better to crush the garlic before adding it.

Go for red beans

Red beans detoxify your body

Red beans, also called Rajma, kidney and Pinto beans are known as ‘Phaseolus vulgaris’, which means ‘common beans’. They all trace their origin to a common ancestor bean in Peru. Spanish explorers brought them to Europe in the 15th century and Portuguese traders introduced them to Asia.

Beans are not only a cheap source of good protein; they also contain plenty of cholesterol-lowering fiber. A cup of cooked kidney beans provides almost half of the recommended daily intake for fiber. This fiber prevents blood sugar levels from bouncing up and down after a meal, making beans easy digestible for people with diabetes, insulin resistance or hypoglycemia.

Furthermore they supply us with the trace mineral molybdenum which helps our bodies getting rid of sulfites. Sulfites are preservatives found in many industrial foods. Big amounts of folate, magnesium, manganese, iron and niacin (Vitamin B1) make red beans an excellent ingredient for any healthy diet. These minerals and vitamins support a healthy heart, improve your memory, help keep your heart healthy, boost your antioxidant defense and provide plenty of fat-free energy. If you want to lose weight, eat plenty of beans.

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Lentil Cream

Heavenly healthy is my title for this vegetarian recipe that I have created more or less myself. I write more or less because it is inspired by the vegetarian sandwich spreads which you find in health food stores all over the world.

I have taken the flavours of the Greek lentil soup which I adore. This soup is dominated by tomatoes and oregano. Instead of preparing a soup however, I add just enough liquid to make a cream. 

You can serve this cream as a snack with crackers or bread. I like to stir in some red wine vinegar which adds a bit of tang. You can use the cream also to make healthy sandwiches, for example for your kids’ tiffin boxes. It is great topped with any kind of cheese.

Wishing you  happy cooking, always!

Kornelia Santoro with family

Lentil cream, heavenly healthy 

 

Ingredients

(for 4 big servings):

• 2 cups lentils (masoor dal)
• 2 packets tomato puree (200 ml each)
• 3 big carrots
• 1 medium size beetroot
• 4 big onions
• 4 big cloves garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Method:

Unlike other legumes lentils don’t need to be soaked overnight. You can use any type of lentils you like. I prefer brown masoor dal for this recipe because it has a round, earthy flavour. 

Wash the lentils and place them into a pressure cooker. You can prepare the lentil cream in a normal pot as well; it just takes a lot longer to cook. Peel the carrots, the beetroot the onions and the garlic and grate them. Add the vegetables to the lentils in the pot. Pour in the tomato puree, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 750 ml water into the pot and mix everything well. Add salt and pepper, the bay leaves and the oregano.

Close the pressure cooker, switch on the flame and boil the lentil cream for half an hour after the first whistle. In a normal pot you have to cook the lentils for at least one hour, stirring occasionally. The lentils should melt in your mouth. You might have to add some extra water also, but not much. At the end of the cooking time you should have a thick cream, not a soup.

When the lentils are cooked, open the pressure cooker. If there is any water left, you have to boil it some more minutes. Stir in 3 tablespoons of olive oil and taste the cream. You might have to add some more salt and pepper. Take out the bay leaves and store the cream in airtight containers. You can keep it in the fridge for at least one week.

Red beans salad

Red beans for a spicy interlude

Normally I don’t really like raw onions. They leave a disgusting aftertaste in my mouth which lingers for hours, even if I brush my teeth and use a mouthwash. In this salad however, finely minced raw onions fit nicely. This is one of the few dishes, where I not only tolerate raw onions, I love them. I discovered this salad about two decades ago at my best friend’s hotel. She owns a 400 year old mansion, a ‘Hammerschloss”, nestled in the idyllic Bavarian countryside close to Regensburg. In luscious green surroundings she serves every Sunday a delicious brunch buffet. One of the plates regularly offered there is this salad. Here in Goa, rajma beans belong to the traditional cuisine and you can find them practically everywhere. I often make a big bowl of this salad and keep it in the fridge, where it stays fresh for up to a week. Whenever somebody feels hungry, they can help themselves to a nutritious meal.

Ingredients (for about 4 servings):

• 200 grams red rajma beans
• 2 big, green peppers
• 2 big, red onions
• 1 cup boiled corn kernels
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• salt, red chili flakes and freshly ground black pepper according to your taste

Method:

Start the evening before cooking with soaking the red beans. Spread them out on a flat surface and discard any broken or discolored beans. Then put the beans into a container, cover them with plenty of water and leave them to soak in the fridge over night.

The next day drain your beans and rinse them well. Then cook your beans in plenty of salt water until they are tender. This takes about 45 minutes in a pressure cooker and up to 2 hours in a normal pot. Drain them and let them cool down.

Wash your green peppers and slice them finely. Peel the onions and mince them as fine as you can. I always use a blender for this job. It is not really necessary to use red onions in this recipe, but I love their purplish hue and slightly sweet aroma in this dish. Combine the beans with the vegetables in a big bowl. Dissolve the salt, around half a teaspoon, in the vinegar and blend it well with the olive oil. Add chili flakes and black pepper according to your taste. I like this salad with plenty of punch so I always use a lot of both. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix all the ingredients well. Let it rest at least 1 hour in the fridge before serving, so the beans soak up all the flavors of the dressing.

Red beans detoxify your body

Rajma or kidney beans and other beans are known as ‘Phaseolus vulgaris’, which means ‘common beans’. They all trace their origin to a common ancestor bean in Peru. Spanish explorers brought them Europe in the 15th century and Portuguese traders introduced them to Asia.

Beans are not only a cheap source of good protein; they also contain plenty of cholesterol-lowering fiber. A cup of cooked kidney beans provides almost half of the recommended daily intake for fiber. This fiber also prevents blood sugar levels from bouncing up and down after a meal, making beans easy digestible for people with diabetes, insulin resistance or hypoglycemia.

Furthermore they supply us with the trace mineral molybdenum which helps our bodies getting rid of sulfites. Sulfites are preservatives found in many industrial foods. Big amounts of folate, magnesium, manganese, iron and niacin (Vitamin B1) make red beans an excellent ingredient for any healthy diet. These minerals and vitamins support a healthy heart, improve your memory, help keep your heart healthy, boost your antioxidant defense and provide plenty of fat-free energy. If you want to lose weight, eat plenty of beans.

More recipes at Kornelia's Kitchen 
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Gigantes, giant white beans Greek style

Dear all, This month I suggest one of my favourite dishes, a traditional Greek recipe: Gigantes. These giant white beans are baked in a luscious tomato sauce in the oven. I remember from my time in Greece housewives proclaiming proudly that they add a full bottle of olive oil to one tray of Gigantes. Indeed, when you consume this dish in Greece, the sauce resembles red tinted oil. This tastes delicious. However, I think nowadays only hardworking peasants need this kind of sustenance. That’s why I have edited this dish to my more modern likings and needs. I use considerably less olive oil and I hide as many vegetables as possible in my tomato sauce. Both my men are not too keen on consuming these vital contributions to any healthy diet so I smuggle my vegetables in whenever I can. I even incorporate beetroot, which adds a lovely deep red tone to the sauce. Gigantes can be served on many occasions. The Greeks usually eat them as a main course with a big chunk of feta, their wonderful goat cheese. Gigantes also make a great contribution to any antipasti buffet. I like to prepare a big tray of gigantes, serve them as a main dish and then keep the leftovers in the fridge, ready to be eaten as a healthy snack. In recent years, many nutritionists warn us to about eating a lot of whole grains, legumes and nuts. The reason is their high content of phytic acid, nature’s own preservative. The inventors of the paleo diet, one of the latest additions to the numerous diets out there, even avoid grains completely. I cannot help but feel overwhelmed by the conflicting opinions presented mostly as scientifically proven facts. At this point in time, I think we all should trust our bodies. If they agree with a certain kind of food or dish, chances are high they are not bad for us. When something tastes yummy, it might even be healthy. Gigantes – the Giants   Ingredients:   500 grams giant white beans 1 big tin of peeled Italian tomatoes (800 grams) or 1 kg fresh tomatoes 2 big carrots 2 medium beetroots 3 medium onions 8 big cloves garlic 3 bundles parsley 100 ml extra virgin olive oil salt pepper Method: My method of cooking these beans differs considerably from the original recipe. Greeks assemble all the ingredients in a tray and then bake it in the oven until everything is done, which takes some hours and kills most of the vitamins. I precook the beans, and then bake them with the tomato sauce only as long as necessary, around one hour. I don’t know if this preserves many vitamins, but it makes me feel health conscious and I can pad myself on the shoulder. Like most legumes, gigantes need soaking before the actual cooking. After reading a lot about the controversial phytic acid, I have adopted the following method of soaking legumes. I place them into a big bowl, cover them with water and add a big dash of vinegar. The addition of an acid medium is supposed to help draw out the phytic acid. Experts advise one tablespoon for every cup of water. I just throw in a big dash. Honestly, I cannot be bothered with measuring out the vinegar for the soaking water. I soak the beans for about 24 hours now. Before learning about phytic acid, I soaked my legumes overnight, which works just as fine for cooking. During the soaking period, I add more water when needed. Before cooking, I drain the gigantes and rinse them well. Then I place them into a big pressure cooker, cover them with water and cook them for about fifteen minutes after the first whistle. At this point, they are almost done. It is quite easy to overcook gigantes, that’s why you have to pay attention not to cook them too long in the pressure cooker. The first times I tried to make gigantes I ended up with a mush. While the beans are in the pressure cooker, you can prep your vegetables. Peel and chop them. A food processor helps a lot with this work. If you use fresh tomatoes, drop them into boiling water for around 1 minute so the skin detaches itself. Then peel them and remove the stalks and the seeds. Chop the cleaned tomatoes into small pieces. However, I think nothing equals Italian peeled tomatoes in a tin for making tomato sauce. Not only is it a lot easier to open a tin, they also taste better than your average tomato. On the other hand, they have to be transported a long way thus causing a lot of pollution if you don’t live in Italy. Spread the chopped vegetables over the bottom of a sufficiently big and deep baking tray. Add the tomatoes and the olive oil and stir everything well together. Add the drained gigantes and around 250 millilitres water. You might to need a bit more water during the baking. Place the tray into an oven and bake for around one hour at 200 degrees Celsius. The ingredients of the tomato sauce should melt nicely together resulting in a thick sauce. The gigantes should turn really soft without losing their shape. While the beans are baking, wash and chop the parsley. Three bundles might seem like a lot of parsley but these beans can take a heavy dose of this herb. I add the parsley shortly before the beans are done to preserve most of its vitamins. At the same time, I add salt and freshly grated pepper. By the way, did you ever notice that the famous chefs on television hardly ever wash their vegetables? This is something that drives me crazy. You can do a lot of damage to your produce if you wash or clean them the wrong way. Also, a big part of my time in the kitchen is spent washing and cleaning stuff. I cannot just rip apart a bundle of parsley. Usually, I have to wash it properly, check for damaged leaves, shake it dry and then pick away the leaves from the stalks, because the stalks are not good for eating. I keep a bit of chopped parsley to sprinkle over the gigantes when they leave the oven. This gives a nice green touch. I also drizzle a bit of olive oil over them before serving. Enjoy.   Phytic acid – friend or foe? In recent years, I have read a lot about phytic acid. This acid, also called phytate, is part of legumes, grains and nuts. Its function is to preserve the seed until conditions are ripe for sprouting and developing a new plant. That means, soaking and fermenting breaks down most of the phytic acid in seeds so the plant can grow. At some point, I had the impression that phytic acid is a horrible substance for human beings. People who believe in the paleo diet don’t eat grains at all, mostly because of their phytic acid content. Scientists agree that phytic acid can block the uptake of essential minerals – calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc – in the intestinal tract. When you look at the structure of phytic acid, you can understand why. All these arms are ready to react with something. Remains the question, what is it reacting with? Some scientists think that phytic acid binds all available minerals in our intestines. This might lead to mineral deficiencies if you eat a lot of untreated whole grains, legumes and nuts. Some nutritionists recommend fermenting or soaking all these seeds before you eat them. The described procedures take a long time. Honestly, I never got around to soaking my nuts in salt water for several days and then dehydrating them in the oven. Luckily, I found some other experts who disagree about the effects of phytic acid on our bodies. They believe (or think or reason) that phytic acid exerts its anti-oxidation properties even in our gut. Some experts even say this substance might fight cancer. At this point, I think I better listen to my belly. It tells me that nuts are really yummy and I like them without soaking, salting and dehydrating. The problem with studying the effects of food on human bodies is the nature of our existence itself. Scientists cannot cut us up immediately after consuming something to see what might be the effect. They need to rely on long-term studies and these are only as reliable as the test subjects. Can you imagine sticking to a strict diet for the sake of a scientific study? I can, but only for one or two weeks at the most. Over the years, there has been so much advice from experts, which turned out to be plain wrong. We were not supposed to eat many eggs. Coconuts were considered unhealthy because of the saturated fat content. Butter was said to contribute to high levels of cholesterol. I follow with interest what scientists discover all over the world. But in the end, I believe I better trust myself. When something tastes delicious, at the least it makes me happy for a little while – and that is healthy, no matter what.  More recipes at Kornelia's Kitchen Sign up for my monthly newsletter