High in iron, high in other minerals, high in vitamins, high in beneficial fiber, high in phytochemicals, high in protein, good for the famer’s soil and dirt cheap legumes are a staple food the world over. Except for maybe the United States where people might eat them occasionally in the most nasty way, out of a can of baked beans. This is how it was for me too, until I decided to go vegetarian over 30 years ago. I discovered that legumes could be delicious and even convenient. Socially friendly too.
Many people have asked me about this information and I’ve written it down so many times that I decided to write it down, freshly, one more time, in this post.
The first thing people want to know about is how to prepare legumes so that they don’t get a lot of gas. Legumes contain oligosaccharides, a type of carbohydrate that is hard to break down. There is a type of bacteria in the human gut that will break these sugars down, but a byproduct is gas.
These legumes have far fewer oligosaccharide than other legumes. They cook much faster. They produce much less gas:
- lentils
- mung beans
- black eyed peas
- split peas
Lentils and mung beans are the highest protein legume after soy beans. The legumes above will cook in about 30 – 45 min, about the same time as brown rice and are delicious when cooked in the same pot at the same time. You don’t need to, but you can improve the taste, texture and digestibility by soaking the legumes above in water overnight. Combine 1 part legumes with 2 parts water. You can then cook the legumes in that liquid for about 30 – 45 minutes until the legumes have the texture of a baked potato. A nice recipe for making several complete meals is to combine 2 cups of any of the dried legumes above, 2 cups brown rice and 8 cups of water in a pot. Bring the pot to a rolling boil and then cook on very low heat until all of the water is evaporated. About 30 – 45 minutes. Top with the sauce of your choice, serve with a leafy green vegetable and fruit for desert.
Soy beans and peanuts are also “low gas” legumes. Peanuts are versatile in ways I never imagined. If you are interested you should investigate African cuisines. Soy beans are super beans. Super high in the quantity and quality of protein, as well as a shopping list of other nutrients. Soy beans can be cooked in about 25 minutes if they are soaked overnight and cooked in a pressure cooker. Soy beans are a rotation crop for cotton that has a lot of nasty chemicals sprayed over the plants and that get into the soil. Most soy beans in the U.S. are also genetically modified (“GMO”) without being labeled as such. If you buy soy beans or soy products, buy organic. You will still get an incredible amount of nutrition for your money.
Lastly there are the legumes that have many more oligosaccharides, take longer to cook and tend to produce more gas. These legumes are highly nutritious, very tasty and can be eaten with comfort with a little extra work. Some of these legumes are:
- black beans
- kidney beans
- navy beans
- pinto beans
The first step to making this group of legumes friendly is to soak them overnight. 1 part dried beans to 2 parts water. You can do this in a container in your refrigerator. The beans can be left to soak for a number of days without harm. You can be put several such containers in your refrigerator to have them ready to go when you are ready.
Soaking these legumes improves the texture and speeds cooking. More importantly some of those gas producing oligosaccharides soak out of the legumes and into the soaking water. Changing the water before cooking will make sure that some of those gas producing oligosaccharides will not make it into you. Use two parts water to one part legumes.
The gas producing oligosaccharides can be reduced much more.
After discarding the water the legumes soaked in overnight and replacing it with fresh water bring the legumes to a hard boil for 1 minute. Discard and replace the water again. If you have not had legumes from this group in a while you will want to repeat this a second time and possibly a third. No, you will not lose a significant amount of nutrition or taste. This method should be enough for most people. I have found that soaking overnight and preemptively boiling away some of the gas producing oligosaccharides to work much better than using baking soda with the beans, wakame, kelp or other folk methods for reducing gas. This method is also free and much more convenient than those other methods.
Bringing the water to rolling boil and then turning the heat down low will cook legumes from this group in about 90 minutes. Again, the legumes should be “al dente”, soft, like a potato.
This group of legumes can also be cooked in just 15 minutes if you combine the oligosaccharide reducing methods above with cooking the legumes in a pressure cooker. Using a pressure cooker will also give the legumes a better texture, make the legumes tastier and less gassy. Bring the pressure up to full, reduce the heat to low and set a timer for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off run the pressure cooker under cold water until the pressure gauge returns to normal.
Pressure cookers can also cook chick peas ( aka garbanzo beans ) in 25 minutes and most root vegetables in about 10 minutes. Pressure cookers tend to lock in and enhance the flavors of root vegetables.
Lastly, many people find canned legumes to be easier to digest. Canned legumes come in a high sodium liquid with other things you don’t want to eat. Rinse well.
According to the American Dietetic Position Paper On Vegetarianism a vegan or vegetarian taking in enough calories through non-junk food to maintain his/her weight will also take in enough protein. Eating 2 – 3 servings ( 2 – 3 cups a day cooked ) of legumes a day will insure adequate protein levels for most people. It isn’t necessary for basic health, but the quality of the protein intake can be increased by combining a legume with a whole grain or a serving of seeds in the same meal.
Cookbook author Barb Bloomfeld has published two legume recipe cookbooks with all vegan recipes, the first being titled “Fabulous Beans”.
Almost any public library will have a large number of all bean recipe cookbooks to choose from. Many of the recipes can easily be made vegan by simply leaving out the animal products or using a vegan substitute for any particular ingredient. I found some of my favorite recipes this way. Then, of course, you can always google on “vegan bean recipes” to find much more.
