Cooking grains and legumes
We had a wonderful time cooking up a storm in m kitchen last Saturday. I promised to post some recipes and menus in the following weeks. Today lets get back to basics. The foundation of each meal is a lentil or small bean and a grain.
The lentils or beans in order of preference are:
MUNG BEANS (SKINNED), MASOOR LENTILS (RED LENTILS), SMALL FRENCH LENTILS, MOTH BEANS, GREEN MUNG BEANS.
The yellow mung beans are easiest to digest and assimilate whereas the green ones will scrape the toxins out of the colon.
Grains:
Basmati Rice, Millet, (both gluten-free) and Barley which has a bit of gluten but has so many other benefits that the small amount of gluten is OK unless you are celiac or highly sensitive to gluten.
Amaranth and Quinoa (white and red) - they cook up like grains but are actually seeds and high in minerals and make a great base for a light evening meal.
So the grains are cooked 1 part to 2 parts water. The lentils or beans need a bit more water. The more water the soupier they become and easier to digest. You can cook them thicker for lunch and soupier for the evening meal when the digestive fire is less and we want something easier to digest. The yellow mung and red lentils cook very fast, in 20 minutes. The other means need to be soaked overnight or for at least an hour or 2 to speed up cooking. Also, they need a bit more salt than other foods to taste the salt.
The legumes (lentils and beans) plus the grain make a complete protein and provide sweet and astringent tastes. The smaller lentils are less clogging to the channels whereas big beans tend to clog the channels unless you are doing heavy physical labour.
The lentils or beans in order of preference are:
MUNG BEANS (SKINNED), MASOOR LENTILS (RED LENTILS), SMALL FRENCH LENTILS, MOTH BEANS, GREEN MUNG BEANS.
The yellow mung beans are easiest to digest and assimilate whereas the green ones will scrape the toxins out of the colon.
Grains:
Basmati Rice, Millet, (both gluten-free) and Barley which has a bit of gluten but has so many other benefits that the small amount of gluten is OK unless you are celiac or highly sensitive to gluten.
Amaranth and Quinoa (white and red) - they cook up like grains but are actually seeds and high in minerals and make a great base for a light evening meal.
So the grains are cooked 1 part to 2 parts water. The lentils or beans need a bit more water. The more water the soupier they become and easier to digest. You can cook them thicker for lunch and soupier for the evening meal when the digestive fire is less and we want something easier to digest. The yellow mung and red lentils cook very fast, in 20 minutes. The other means need to be soaked overnight or for at least an hour or 2 to speed up cooking. Also, they need a bit more salt than other foods to taste the salt.
The legumes (lentils and beans) plus the grain make a complete protein and provide sweet and astringent tastes. The smaller lentils are less clogging to the channels whereas big beans tend to clog the channels unless you are doing heavy physical labour.
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