Lentils are another good legume. Look up a daal recipe for any lentil you find, and basmati rice

Dried lentils don’t need to be pre-soaked, but I prefer to cook them separately and drain the water they boil in.

Pre-soaking lentils (and pouring the water away) makes them easier to digest, in particular it makes them bloat you less.

https://farmhouseguide.com/benefits-of-soaking-lentils/

An exception are dehulled lentils, like red lentils. They don't need pre-soaking and are quicker to cook, too. I often throw red lentils into the cooking water with my noodles or rice, just to add some protein into the meal.

Bean stew is one of the most delicious things you can cook whether you can afford more or not. Here's my recipe. Everything but the beans, onions, carrots, paprika, oil and salt is optional and mainly improves the taste profile. Works with almost any kind of bean. Can be done with dried beans too but you gotta handle softening them up first.

Bean stew/soup v4.1

• 3x beans cans - 540ml
• 2x onion heads
• 2x carrots
• 2tbsp paprika, 1tbsp smoked paprika
• cooking oil
• 1/2 tsp salt (or less) and 1/2tsp of MSG
• 2x chicken or beef cubes
• marinara/tomato puree/diced tomatoes/vinegar/some other acid

• Add beans with some water in a pot. Use OG bean water too.
• Chop onions and carrots in small pieces.
• Fry onions and carrots in a pan with oil.
• Once fry is done, add all the paprika and stir for 10-20s then pour into the pot, let it boil once.
• Add the beef/chicken cubes.
• Add spearmint, lots.
• Add some more oil if needed. Olive is great.
• Add 3-4tbsp marinara, diced tomatoes or balsamic vinegar.
• Add 1/2 tsp salt (or less) and 1/2tsp of MSG.
• Test for salt, it might be good enough.

Eat it with some bread or by itself. It goes well with any type of hot pepper too.

As a vegan, this has been my main meal because I'm pretty lazy (usually wrapped in a tortilla with guacamole, but I also eat it plain)

The gas issues are only a problem for a few days / weeks until your gut biome adjusts !

Also, if this sounds too boring to anyone - do not underestimate the power of keeping a bunch of fun hot sauces around. They don’t have to be too spicy, but something similarly vinegar based will have a decent shelf life and be pretty cheap per serving.

I’m not just eating pantry staples again, I’m enjoying a smoky chipotle bean stew on top of some fragrant mango-lime-habanero rice.

My kids call me "bean lady" for my love of beans. They are a perfect food.

Red beans and rice (red beans cooked with small chopped veg, long grain white rice)

Pinto beans on brown rice, with tahini.

Pinto beans on brown rice, with chili paste.

Pinto beans refried with breakfast.

Lentil dal with coconut milk and spinach (or lately with Hong Tsoi because it grows here, spinach is too fussy. )

Garbanzo bean soup with potatoes and chorizo.

Ful mudamas with pita and feta cheese and scallions

Channa masala so spicy, with chopped onion and mixed pickle, on white basmati

Red lentils and greens on sourdough toast. East with knife and fork.

Brothy enormous white beans cooked in veg broth but with a Parmesan rind or a bone.

I really truly love beans.

Frozen peas are great for that too. Goes with a lot of different dishes. just throw in a handful, or make a side-dish.

I just want to add:

If you are in NYC - check out the Chinese and Mexican grocery stores!!! Usually a ton of foot traffic keeps the vegetables fresh. I do most of my vegetable shopping at one particular Chinese store which I find to be the best - [except for the onions (why are the onions so bad - do chinese people not eat yellow onions?)] - and it's fun to try new vegetables!

Also, strange, and I'm not sure what to make of it - fish in the Chinese grocery stores costs 1/2 of what it at white-people ones.

Rice and beans together make a full protein, so eat them together.

Rice takes up arsenic when it grows, if you eat a lot it can add up. It's mostly in the bran which is in brown rice and is removed for white rice. Rinse many times before cooking and you can either boil in lots of excess water and drain (like you do with pasta) or parboil it. https://health.osu.edu/wellness/exercise-and-nutrition/how-to-reduce-arsenic-in-rice

https://sheffield.ac.uk/sustainable-food/news/new-way-cooking-rice-removes-arsenic-and-retains-mineral-nutrients-study-shows

My go to rice recipe: spanish rice

Add some refried beans and a protein or cheese, kids will clean their plate.

Skip the olive oil. If you're buying it on a beans and rice budget, its gonna be fake olive oil anyway. Just use corn/canola/veg oil.

Taco seasoning goes great in beans too.

Some notes about gas: It's primarily caused by a combination of fiber, and in the case of beans, by the oligosaccharides. The fiber can be handled by gradually increasing intake of high fiber foods. The more you get used to eating them, the less bloated you should feel, and it generally goes down to a normal level of gas that most people experience.

For the oligosaccharides, soaking and rinsing the dry beans does help remove a lot of it. Rinsing canned beans also helps. Taking Beano (or an equivalent) can help too. There are also claims of various spices being able to help as well.

It's also important to note that different types of legumes can cause more bloating, or less. Experiment with different kinds to find what works for you.

If you're willing/able to make the effort, sprouting and even fermenting will significantly help with bloating as well.

As a last resort or easy reprieve, opting for low fiber plant foods like white rice and tofu won't hurt in the short term, though whole foods should generally be preferred because natural sources of fiber of hugely beneficial.

On an unrelated note, I have always hated soaking beans, which is why the Instant Pot has been one of the single greatest cooking inventions I have ever used. Supposedly the pressure cooking also breaks down the oligosaccharides and reduces bloating. I just love it because I can toss in a bunch of beans and oat groats, and have enough of that stuff cooked to easily and quickly prepare meals every day for a week with each batch.

If you can get a hold of some chipotle chili pepper, adding a little bit to the beans is a great way to get some smokiness and depth of flavor too. It's really strong so one container lasts basically forever

Also a very underrated flavoring that's unjustly stigmatized because of racism is MSG. You can get really big bags of them for super cheap, and it's an easy way to make any meal taste savory.

To reduce gas with beans:

• soak with baking soda (1tsp per cup of beans)
• before cooking boil some water and in a bowl cover the beans with the boiled water, after 5 minutes drain and wash them and throw them in to whatever you are cooking
• ferment the beans, best results but more work

Also remember that as your body gets used to it, the gas is reduced.

Been on lemmy like two years, and this is the first post I'm gonna actually save for later cuz damn this is just useful and nice information to have, thank you so much for sharing!

1kg dry beans soaked and 150g of most types of curry paste makes for a great meal. I'm currently eating red lentils and vindaloo paste with cabbage cooked in with it.

Soak lentils overnight, then rinse and whisk to clean them off before use.

This will cost an extra few dollars but still totally worth it..add curry sauce! Aldi has butter chicken, korma, and tikka masala sauce for abt 5 bucks a jar and it is really good with rice and beans.

It's the return of depression meals, 1930s style

leave it to lemmy users to disparage the primary staple of 3.5 billion people. "Pre-diabetic junk food" lmao sure ok

Rice, oil, little tomato paste or *sauce, pinch of sugar, whatever spices you have -> mexican rice

Large skillet of cooked rice, 1 scrambled egg, salt. Stir egg in to rice over heat and mix until cooked. Eggs and rice. Decent flavor, super filling, reheats well.

Rice, soaked black or soaked red beans, Filé powder, chilli powder, salt. cook like it's just rice. red/black beans and rice, heartly flavor, super filling.

1 single sausage patty cooked and chopped super fine, file powder, skillet of cooked rice, salt - > dirty rice.

1 serving of cheap uncooked spaghetti broken into 1/2 inch pieces, 3C uncooked rice, 2 tlbs of high heat oil, stir until pasta browns a bit, water barely to cover, stir in salt, dry italian herbs, butter if you have it, tight lid. stir occasionally, DIY Rice-A-Roni.

Throw a single uncooked chicken wing in a large pot of uncooked rice and water, cook normally. it will flavor the rice and you can still eat the wing or tear the meat off into the pot.

Core memory triggered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcWhHJXgxgc

We put 45 minutes on the electric pressure cooker and get the smoothest beans.

Good post. Will try it out.

Also, for what it's worth, hot sauce also makes you feel way more full/less hungry. If you need an addition.