Quick Cooking Legumes

Christy Morgan gives us a tour of quick-cooking, nutritious legumes and how to use them. Lentils take center stage in Christy's recipe for a crunchy, zesty lentil salad with radish.

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Video Transcript

Hi. My name is Christy Morgan, and I'm known as the Blissful Chef. Today we're going to talk about legumes, which are vegetables that grow in pods.

They're so nutritious—full of fiber, full of protein and have no cholesterol. Displayed here in front of me is the before and after cooking of different types of legumes.

Types of quick cooking legumes

Mung beans

Mung beans are often used in Southeast Asian cooking and are sprouted to make mung bean sprouts.

Green lentils

Green lentils are great for stews and also for salads like we're going to make today.

Red lentils

Here we have red lentils, which are used often in Indian cooking to make daals and soups.

Split peas

Split peas are really great for winter split pea soup.

Legumes are a great way to get protein in your diet because they do not require soaking, and they are quick cooking.

A simple, lentil salad

Now we're going to make our lentil salad. We're going to use one cup of lentils.

The first thing you are going to do is sort through them to make sure that there are no stones or debris. Now these are ready to be cooked, but I've already pre-cooked some for our salad today.

Now we're going to chop our vegetables for our lentil salad. We're going to use about ten cherry tomatoes for this salad, and I like to cut them in half to make them into smaller, bite-sized pieces. I'm going to add these to my lentils.

And then we're going to do some fresh oregano.

Now we're going to make our dressing for this salad, which is going to include one tablespoon of tamari, about one tablespoon of Dijon mustard and a dash of maple syrup. We're also going to add sea salt and black pepper to taste. Whisk this together and add it to the salad. And make sure the lentils and the vegetables are completely coated with the dressing.

This salad looks beautiful and is a great way to get your protein in. Going to add some fresh oregano on top, and then we are finished with our lentil salad.

I'm Christy for Co+op, stronger together.