The Lazy Guide To Eating (and Enjoying) Plant Proteins
Eat Food. Mostly Plants. Not Too Much. Michael Pollan is onto something. It's a simple eating philosophy to live by, but if truth be told - getting your protein via plants can be tricky territory on the old tastebuds. While we're totally nuts about nuts, they're pricey enough that we can't live off them (and that would be boring anyway), which leaves pulses: lentils, beans and peas, oh my! It's safe to say that we've all probably had at least one pretty average experience with lentils or beans and it's left enough of a meh-taste in our mouths to result in their being shunted off the shopping list when we're picking up our proteins for the week. But with a few simple additions, you'll actually want to start getting more of them into lunch and dinner. Especially since they're ridiculously good for both you and that thing we all live on, the planet. Did we mention they're also stuuuupidly cheap?Let's start with the five easiest. Here's our guide to making impulsive dishes (geddit) taste amazing - that take next to no time to cook. Lentils, you're about to make it to the top of our shopping lists.
Skip ahead if you buy canned lentils but if you're in the market for dried ones (and these are definitely the most bank-account friendly), here are the full-proof ways to cook'em. Add twice the volume of lentils in water (1 cup lentils: 2 cups waster), bring to a boil, and simmer for the times above. Now pay attention to the following because we learnt the hard way: only add salt once the lentils have cooked. Same same but different: do not salt at the beginning, before the lentils are cooked, this will make them go hard.Speaking of salt - what else can you add to make these bad boys taste good?
Related: Made a massive batch of lentil soup? Check out these genius ways to reinvent the leftovers. Also, did we mention that preserved lemons and lentils belong together? You're welcome.Thank you to the generosity of Honest To Goodness, online purveyors and deliverers of delicious whole foods, who supplied us with the lentils and split peas for this shoot!Oh and if you need one more reason to get pulsey - 2016 is the International Year of the Pulse, so #LovePulses and all that ;) Plus the French do it:
Image credits: Zo Zhou for Youth Food Movement, World's Greatest Pulse Dishes