Bean and pulse recipes

Split Pea Soup I’m a big fan of pulses. They’re cheap as chips and count as one of your 5-a-day, hurray! Recently, as our unspectacular summer grinds to an end, I’ve been hankering after soup and when I think of soup, split pea soup is one of the first to spring to mind. The only version I’ve ever […]

Mackerel with a Lentil and Yoghurt Salad Lentils dressed with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, ground corinader and cumin; with lots of red onion. Finished with yoghurt, parsley and pomegranate seeds.

Chickpea and Haloumi Salad One of my favourite things to eat – chickpeas, olives, sun blush tomatoes and haloumi in a delicious salad.

Scallops with Lentils and Roasted Tomato Mmmm, yes more decadent eating. This was a mesh of lots of recipes that I saw, mostly including bacon, so I adjusted them a little bit. In fact, the sweetness of the roasted tomatoes goes really sweet scallops. If you’re not feeling so flash, I think this would go really well with haloumi instead. Another […]

Broad Bean Pilaf I made this with fresh broad beans, but they are another vegetable like the pea that freeze well, so this is just as good with frozen broad beans. I had this with the Mackerel Salad below, but this would be good with curry too. Ingredients 1 onion, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1tsp […]

Pasta with Spiced Chickpeas A somewhat unorthodox flavour combination of chickpeas spiced with cumin, cinnamon and turmeric, combined with tomato, flaked almonds, parsley and er… pasta, but it works all the same. Don’t skip any of the ingredients in this, they’re all pretty essential. This is based on a recipe from Accidental Vegetarian, a fabulous book by Simon Rimmer, […]

Sausage and Lentil Casserole This is a classic from university when 5 of us used to take it in turns to cook for each other on a weekly rota. This is a rich, intense stew, lovely little puy lentils cooked in a red wine and tomato sauce with sausages. The lentils can easily be substituted for other beans, cannelini, […]

Chickpea burgers These little cakes are a delicious alternative to falafel, serve with pitta, yoghurt, salad and the tomato salsa below. These are also really easy to make, literally mashing chickpeas and frying them. Some obligatory fried onions obviously work a treat here too. This makes enough for 4 people, but I bet these also freeze really […]

The Loveliest Daal A lovely bowl of soft comforting daal. Eat with rice and naan. Counts as one of your 5-a-day too. Its worth making loads of this as it lasts really well and freezes superbly. Ingredients 1 onion, finely chopped 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped small piece ginger, finely chopped 1 red chilli, finely chopped ½ tsp […]

Bean Chilli You may think this looks like a bowl of beany mush, and you’d be right, it is. But therein lies the joy, bean chilli and various versions of it are delicious and nutritious, and can also be used in a million different ways (slight exaggeration)! I love it simply with bulghar wheat or rice and […]