Lesson 2: Beans and Lentils, Dry and Tinned

Welcome to the Bean Pot

Welcome back! Last time you built a balanced plant-based plate. Beans and lentils are going to be one of the main protein foods on that plate. Today you'll learn to cook them properly.

One quick note before we start. This course gives general cooking and nutrition information. It isn't dietetic advice, so if you have a medical condition, check with your GP or a registered dietitian.

So why do people think beans are boring? Usually it's because they've had them chalky, watery or under-salted. A bean is a bit like a sponge: it takes on whatever you give it. Give it plain water and it tastes of plain water. We'll fix that today.

Dry or Tinned: Which Should You Use?

Both are good, and you'll use both.

Tinned beans are already cooked. You can eat them straight from the tin, so they're great on a busy weeknight. A standard 400g tin (about a 14 oz can) gives you roughly 240g of beans once drained, which is about 1½ cups.

Dried beans are cheaper per portion. They also give you more control over the texture and the seasoning. The catch is that they take time and need a bit of planning.

Cooking Dried Beans Safely

Here's something important you might not know. Raw red kidney beans contain a natural toxin called a lectin. Just a few undercooked beans can give you a nasty stomach ache, vomiting and diarrhoea. Proper cooking destroys it, so you just need to follow the steps.

The Food Standards Agency's advice for dried red kidney beans goes like this:

1. Soak the dried beans in plenty of water for at least 12 hours. Overnight is easiest.
2. Drain them and rinse them. Throw the soaking water away.
3. Cover them with fresh water and bring to the boil. Boil them hard, at a rolling boil, for at least 10 minutes.
4. Turn the heat down and simmer until tender. This usually takes 45 to 60 minutes.

What about the slow cooker? Don't put raw kidney beans straight in. A slow cooker may not get hot enough to destroy the toxin, and beans that are warmed but not boiled can be more harmful than raw ones. Do the soak and the hard boil first. After that, the slow cooker is fine.

If that all feels like a lot, tinned kidney beans are a perfectly good choice. They've already been heat-treated.

As a rough guide, 250g of dried beans (about 1¼ cups) cooks up to about the same as two to three tins.

What About Lentils?

Good news here. Lentils don't need soaking. Just rinse them and cook them.

Red lentils fall apart in about 15 to 20 minutes, which makes them perfect for soups and dals. Green and brown lentils hold their shape better. They take roughly 20 to 30 minutes and work well in salads and as a mince swap.

Seasoning: How Do You Stop Beans Being Bland?

This is the part people skip, and it's the part that matters most.

When you simmer dried beans, put a good pinch of salt in the water, along with a bay leaf, a halved onion or a couple of crushed garlic cloves. The beans take in that flavour as they cook, so they're seasoned all the way through and not just on the surface.

Once they're cooked, finish them off with the following:

• Salt, added a little at a time
• Acid, like a squeeze of lemon or a splash of vinegar, to make the flavours brighter
• Fat, such as a glug of olive oil, for richness

One more thing about simmering: keep it gentle once the hard boil is done. If you boil them too hard for the whole time, the skins split and burst.

Quick Recipe: Garlicky Lemon Butter Beans

This one uses tinned beans, takes about 10 minutes and serves two.

You'll need one 400g tin of butter beans, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 sliced garlic cloves, half a lemon, a pinch of chilli flakes, salt and pepper, and a handful of spinach.

1. Tip the beans into a sieve and rinse them well under the cold tap. Why? The liquid in the tin is often salty and a bit starchy. Rinsing it off gives you a clean base that you season yourself.
2. Warm the oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and chilli and cook for about a minute, until it smells good but before it browns.
3. Add the beans and a splash of water. Squash a few beans against the pan to make it creamy. Heat for about 4 minutes, until it's piping hot.
4. Stir in the spinach until it wilts. Then add salt, pepper and the lemon juice.

Serve it on toast or with a grain, and you've got a balanced plate.

Check Your Result

So how do you know you got it right? Taste a few beans, not just one.

First, check the texture. Squash a bean between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. It should be creamy all the way through. Is the middle chalky or grainy? Then it isn't done yet. Keep simmering and test again every 10 minutes or so. Old dried beans can take a lot longer, so be patient.

Next, check the flavour. Do the beans taste flat? Add a small pinch of salt, stir and taste again. Still dull? Add a squeeze of lemon. You'll be surprised how much a little acid wakes things up.

Finally, storage. Cool any leftover beans quickly, get them into the fridge within two hours and eat them within two days. You can also freeze them in portions, which is a great habit to get into.

Key Takeaways

• Dried red kidney beans: soak for at least 12 hours, drain and rinse, boil hard for at least 10 minutes, then simmer until tender.
• Never slow-cook raw kidney beans without that hard boil first.
• Lentils don't need soaking. Red ones collapse, while green and brown ones hold their shape.
• Rinse tinned beans, then season them yourself.
• Season dried beans while they simmer, then finish with salt, acid and fat.
• Test several beans: they should be creamy right through. If they're flat, add salt, then lemon.