5 Ways to Add Legumes to Your Plate
As we explored in this month’s webinar, legumes can play a key role in our diet for many reasons including their health benefits, low cost, environmental impact, convenience and taste. Legumes offer a variety of flavors, textures, and colors on your plate. Here are 5 ways to add legumes to your plate:
1. Add legumes to salads, soups, stews, egg dishes and grain bowls. Legumes pair well with almost any dish due to their mild flavor. Our Quinoa Bowl with Spicy Peanut Dressing features shelled edamame, or whole soybeans.
2. Blend legumes into a dip. Cooked legumes are soft and can be easily blended into a dip like hummus. Favorite variations include Kalamata Olive Hummus and Dill Pickle Hummus. Without a food processor or blender, you can easily mash legumes with a fork. Mash black beans on avocado toast with a fried egg and hot sauce for a savory brunch dish.
3. Explore legume-based dishes from global cuisines. One of the first crops cultivated by man, legumes have played an important role in diets throughout history. To this day, legumes are a staple ingredient in the diets of many people globally. Dal, cassoulet, falafel, frijoles and minestrone are just a few examples of legume-based dishes from different cuisines.
4. Roast legumes as a snack or salad topper. Roast shelled edamame with spices for a snack that satisfies cravings for something crunchy and salty. To make spicy roasted edamame, preheat the oven to 375°F. Place 1 ½ cups frozen shelled edamame in a colander and run under water until the beans are no longer icy. In a small bowl, toss the edamame with 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp toasted sesame oil, ¼ tsp salt and 1 Tb crushed red pepper flakes. Spread out on a pan lined with parchment paper. Roast for 45 minutes, shaking the pan every 15 minutes.
5. Sprout legumes. Some legumes like chickpeas and mung beans taste delicious when sprouted. Soak the legumes for 10-24 hours, spread them out on a large plate and cover them with a damp kitchen towel. They are ready to eat when the sprouts, which look like little white tails, appear. Enjoy for 3-4 days.
