Spilling the Beans on Legumes

Spilling the Beans
on Legumes
June 1996 -- Applications

By: Susheela Uhl
Contributing Editor

  American consumers are eating less meat to reduce their fat intake. At the same time, they are looking for taste, appearance, variety and convenience. Vegetarian foods are becoming popular because they can meet these needs.

  Much of the new excitement in vegetarian food comes through the creative use of legumes, which - traditionally used as a poor person's diet - have become a trendy food in restaurants. They are nutritious, low in fat, have no cholesterol, and contain many vitamins and minerals. All of these factors are important for loss of body weight and prevention of diseases.

  Different preparation techniques result in varied consistencies, textures, colors and flavors of legumes. This article explores the world of legumes in their many varieties and uses, their nutritional values, cooking techniques, and the numerous uses of legumes in ethnic foods, where they add "spice," variety and excitement to vegetarian foods.

Knowing beans about legumes

  Legumes are the edible seeds and pods of certain plants. They include beans, soybeans, lentils, peas and peanuts. Legumes are popular in vegetarian cooking because they are extremely versatile, and due to this versatility they are becoming "chic" in fusion and ethnic-style cooking in the United States. Legumes can be combined with rice, meat or vegetables as main dishes, or they can be used whole, pureed or ground into flour and incorporated into side dishes, snacks, soups, stews, desserts, noodles or crepes.

  Certain legumes are very flavorful and can add variety to a meal, while other types are nonassertive in flavor.

  "Though some legumes such as black bean, lima bean and chickpeas give distinct flavors, most legumes accept other flavors that they are cooked with," says Audrey Cross, president, Cross and Associates, Engelwood, NJ. The non-assertive legumes are economical because they can "stretch" a meal and at the same time provide texture and mouthfeel to products. "Crumbled red kidney beans give a meaty flavor and texture to lasagna," Cross suggests.

  Beans originated in Mexico and were then taken to other parts of North America and the rest of the world. They have been used traditionally in Mediterranean, Latin American and Asian diets as an inexpensive source of protein. The many varieties of beans and lentils are based on differences in flavor, color, texture, size and shape. Secaucus, NJ-based Goya Foods markets 34 different varieties of dried and canned beans - such as pinto, black bean, red kidney, pink, butter and red - for different Hispanic segments in the United States, the Caribbean and Spain.

  Depending on the cultural or regional origins, beans are called different names, such as frijoles, habichuelas, granos, pois, or dais. White beans (great northern, lima, navy, white kidney, cannellini), pintos, black, red, pink, red kidney beans, and black-eyed peas are commonly consumed in the United States based on cultural and regional preferences. Some of the exotic beans are adzuki, cranberry, flageolets, pueblo, Appaloosa, tongues of fire, yellow eye and rattlesnake.

  As with beans, there are many varieties of peas. The fresh sugar, snap or snow peas are popularly used in French-style soups or in Cantonese stir-fries. The black-eyed pea, sometimes called cowpea in the United States, and pigeon pea were brought here by the West Africans and are now a staple of Creole, Southern and Caribbean cooking. Chickpeas, or garbanzos, are widely used in the Mediterranean and India, with vegetables, meats and snacks. Channa dal, the small yellow split pea variety of the chickpea family, is a favorite in Indian cooking; it is meatier and sweeter than the yellow split pea of the United States

  Lentils, or lentejas, the most commonly eaten legume in India, come in white, pink, yellow or brown. They are aromatic and delicate in taste when cooked. Texture and consistency differ among lentils. In North America, the greenish to greenish-yellow lentils; the brownish-black lentils of France; and the green or larger yellow split peas of India are used in thinner soups or purees, casseroles and salads.

  Names and appearances change when lentils are hulled and split. The unhulled lentils look attractive, but have a long cooking time and are hard to digest. Once they are hulled (skin removed) and split, they become easier to cook and digest. Tamarind Tree Ltd., Perth Amboy, NJ, markets a line of Indian vegetarian entrees that use black gram, red kidney beans, garbanzos and yellow split peas with aromatic herbs and spices.

  Soybeans - either black, brown or yellow - are ubiquitous in Asia. Soybean products such as tofu, soymilk, fermented bean pastes, tempeh, soy sauce, soy flour, food wrappers and soy protein concentrate are an integral part of Asian cooking. Whole sweet soybeans can be processed and seasoned as snacks. Tofu, used in Cantonese stir-fries, dips and snacks, takes on the flavor of what it is cooked with. Soymilk, widely consumed in East Asia, and soy protein concentrate, a base in veggie burgers, have great growth potential when effectively combined with flavorings.

  Peanuts are commonly used with spices and herbs for sauces, stews and dips from West Africa, Brazil and Southeast Asia. The interest in peanut sauces stems from the popularity of Thai and Indonesian cuisines that feature spicy peanut sauces for satays, dips and spreads.

Preparation vs. absorption

  Raw plant protein is harder to digest than animal protein, but if ground and cooked well, its digestibility increases. The digestibility of legumes varies, with lentils being more digestible than beans.

  Cooking time varies from bean to bean, depending on the bean's size, age and tenderness, and on the hardness or softness of the cooking water. The fresher the beans, the faster they cook. More consumers would probably eat beans if they could be cooked faster.

  Brown's Best Foods, Lincoln, NE, has a line of precooked, pregelatinized bean powder and dehydrated whole beans for quick and easy preparation of soups. "Soups and meals in a cup have seen explosive growth over the past decade, and many of these foods feature legumes in ethnicstyle recipes," says Emil J. Font, sales director.

  Traditionally, before cooking, whole beans would be soaked overnight or for up to 12 hours, depending on the type of bean. Or they can be boiled in water for about 2 to 3 minutes in a covered pot, then removed and left to soak for about 1 to 2 hours. Soaking is not necessary for small beans, lentils, or mung beans which are rinsed before cooking to remove most of the raffinose.

  Pressure cookers are sometimes used to cook beans in order to speed up the cooking time, but intense frothing could clog the vent. Lentils cook faster than beans. One cup of masoor dal takes about 20 minutes to cook, while a cup of black beans takes about 1 to 2 hours.

  Cooking techniques sometimes tend to modify the original colors and flavors of legumes. Masoor dal, which is pink, turns creamy brown when cooked. Spices, salt, tomatoes or acids can be added after the legumes are cooked and become tender, otherwise these ingredients lengthen the cooking time.

Nutrition and balance

  The USDA Food Guide Pyramid differs from the Asian and Mediterranean pyramids, which recommend that meat be eaten less often and in smaller amounts. The latter two feature legumes prominently with fruits and vegetables, whereas the USDA pyramid classifies legumes with meat, eggs and dairy. In America, 38% of our calories come from fat; but in Japan, Korea, India and China, 10% to 15 % of consumers' calories come from fat. The people who consume Asian diets have shown low incidence of heart disease, breast and colon cancers, osteoporosis and obesity.

  Legumes are high in complex carbohydrates and are an excellent example of fat-free protein. Plant proteins are not as fully utilized as animal protein since they lack the complete amino acid profile for protein synthesis. Legumes lack the sulphur-containing amino acids for protein synthesis. However, once legumes are balanced with other ingredients that contain these amino acids, such as grains, nuts, seeds, dairy products or meat, they are completely utilized.

  Foods with high levels of dietary fiber and low fat are associated with reduced risk of colon cancer, diabetes and coronary heart disease. Consuming legumes also can protect against breast cancers and bone loss in women. Beans, lentils and soybeans are emerging as popular foods because of their high fiber, low fat, low salt, high protein, and valuable vitamins and minerals, such as folic acid, iron, calcium, phosphorus and potassium.

The ethnic connection

  In the past, North Americans avoided vegetarian foods because they lacked the flavor, texture and variety of a meat-centered diet. New vegetarian dishes based on ethnic recipes using legumes have created many unique flavors, textures and colors that can compete effectively with meat-based diets. Thus, while legumes were often used as a poor man's diet in Asia and Latin America, they have now caught on with North American cooking.

  The use of ethnic flavors in North American cooking is not new. "Native Americans were the first to put an 'ethnic spin' to legumes by developing the recipe for what would later become known as Boston baked beans, an instant hit with the colonists," says Font.

  Nowadays, the most fashionable Southwestern recipes call for different varieties of Native American and pinto beans, which complement well with chilies and hot spices.

  Spices, herbs and other flavorings such as mustard seeds, onions, asafetida, epazote and ginger are important for the development of legume products. Asafetida and tamarind are added to dais of southern India to create desirable flavors and to decrease flatulence. Treatment of spices and the balance of spice blends are important in creating the flavor and variety in legume dishes. According to Hershad Parekh, president of Tamarind Tree, a blend of fenugreek, asafetida, mustard seeds, garlic and ginger is added to the cooked dal (in addition to other spices and herbs) toward the end of cooking. This blend gives an extra boost to the dal's taste and aroma.

  Different ethnic groups have chosen lentils or beans based on what dish they go into. The uses and flavors for legumes are as varied as the different ethnic groups themselves. Some of these varied uses of legumes, which make vegetarian food so appealing in modern cooking, are described below.